Island child
by Scruffypalace
Summary: Oliver and Sara went all the way that night on the Gambit, right before all hell broke lose. Eight months later Oliver discovered that she was not only alive, but also pregnant. Now he is back in Starling city, with a four year old who had been raised on and off an island her entire life. flashbacks just like the tv show.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey guys, I know that there wasn't really a calendar on Lian Yu, and I know that we can all pretty much assume that every season was around a year with flashbacks, but in my story, between the time that the ship crash happened and the time Oliver saw Sara again on the Amazo, it was approximately eight months. I hope you enjoy.**_

4 Years Ago,

Oliver groaned as he leaned over in pain, clutching his stomach that felt as though it was on fire. Though that was nothing compared to the pain in his shoulder that was the result of the arrow he pulled out just a night before. He groaned again as Ivan kicked him in his stomach, making him go from kneeling to all fours. Ivan was explaining his "Genius" plan to Oliver, which of course he was mostly ignoring, when he noticed another person make their way into the room. When Oliver looked up, he was shocked silent when he noticed who it was. He was even more so when he noticed that this woman had a massive stomach that he was sure wasn't there eight months ago. He knows this because he was with this woman eight months ago, and he knew, he thought while he gulped, that he was the one who put it there. Oliver face was covered in shock and confusion as he looked up Sara who was shaking her head as if to tell him to not say anything.

"So, tell me Oliver, how did you get here? Don't tell me you came here on purpose," Ivan asked him.

"My boat was shipwrecked here, I was the only survivor," Oliver said while panting.

Oliver could see Sara's body relax a little at what he said, but all he could focus on was her stomach, and all he wanted to do was get her away from this horror of a place. Her and their child.

Present day…

"Moira we're going to be late if we don't leave now," Walter yelled as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. She didn't respond, so he let out an exasperated sigh and made his way up the stairs to their bedroom. He walked in expecting to see Moira rushing to put on makeup or changing her dress for the fifth time. What he saw though, was her sitting on the edge of the bed talking to someone on the phone as her eyes welled up with tears. Her hand was covering her mouth as she listened to the other speaker. When she noticed Walter, she gestured for him to sit beside her. As he made his way towards her, he tried to hear what the person on the other line was saying, but when he did, he stopped in his tracks and realized what had Moria so upset. "Is that…?" Walter asked, not able to say the name as he knew it was too painful for Moria to hear. She shook her head as she soaked in every word that Oliver was saying. Walter's heart clenched as he heard that though Oliver had survived, his father had died years before, meaning that Oliver was alone this entire time.

"Mom, I need to tell you something," he heard Oliver say through nervously.

"What is it Oliver?" Moira asked with nervousness also hinted in her voice, but only slightly like she was trying to hide it.

"Sarah, she was on the boat with me. She and I made it to the island together, and we… well before we crashed something happened between us and… she got pregnant. On the island, we we're the only ones there so we didn't really know what to do. She died a year after she gave birth from some kind of infection, but I have a daughter. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true and she somehow is still alive and mom, gosh I need you so much," Oliver cried through the phone. Neither Moira or Walter could believe what they were hearing. All the pain Oliver had been through in the last five years. Having to take care of a baby on an island by himself, with no experience and nothing to take care of the child with. It is too overwhelming for Moira, she is just so happy that he is alive, but all the things he went through, she wouldn't blame him if he had wished for death a few times. She couldn't breathe. It was as though someone had their hand rapped around her throat. She didn't get another breath until she heard Oliver's voice again.

"Mom, I have to go, but I will call you as soon as I get home. I love you."

"Oh, I love you too Oliver," Moira responded, staying on the phone even after the dial tone had been playing for a while. Walter slid it from her firm grasp and tossed it on the bed, then he gathered her in his arms and let her cry until she fell asleep in his arms.

A far way away on a fisherman's ship on the North China Sea, a man was holding his four-year-old daughter as she slept in his arms, his tears gently falling on her blond curls as he returned to a his old home as a stranger.

A stranger with a mission.

Hey guys, if you want me to continue, just leave a comment or private message. I have so many ideas if I get enough of a response to it. Have a wonderful day, Scruffy Palace .


	2. Chapter 2

Moira had never been more nervous than she was at this very moment. Out of all the scenarios that she had come up with in her head about crazy situations she may ever be in, this one takes the cake. She seriously never thought that one day she would be standing outside of Detective Lance's apartment about to tell him that, though his daughter is dead, they now share a four-year old granddaughter. She almost turned back a few times. She had come up with a million reasons as to why this was a bad idea, but she knew that it had to be done, and she wasn't going to make her son who just spent five horrible years on an island tell him. So, she took a deep breath, raised her hand, and gently knocked on his door while secretly praying he wasn't home. She waited a few minutes, and when no one came to the door she knocked again. Again, there was no response so Moira breathed a sigh of relief, and turned around. Unluckily for her, when she turned she ran right into Lance, knocking his groceries out of his arms in the process.

"Moira?" Lance asked, confused as to what she was doing at his apartment when they had been avoiding each other for the past five years.

She leaned over and picked up the bottle of whiskey that had rolled out of one of the bags and handed it to her as she said, "Oh I am so sorry, here."

When they had finally got everything back in the bags Lance muttered a quick, "Thanks," and then reached for his keys. "Look, I have a lot of stuff to do, so if you could come back another time that would be great." He opened his door and walked in, but Moira grabbed his arm before he closed the it.

"I know seeing me is hard, and it brings up feelings because of what happened five years ago, and you know that I never defended Oliver's decision to take Sara out on that boat, especially while he was dating Laurel, but this is very important and I am afraid that you need to let me in so we can talk."

Lance looked down at his shoes like he was contemplating what to do, then he sighed and rubbed his hand against his face while he said, "Alright, come on in, but I really don't have long, I'm in the middle of a big case at work."

Moira smiled a gentle smile which is quite unusual for her ever since she lost her son and husband and frankly, she felt uncomfortable doing so, but she knew that she now had one of her heart back, plus an addition that would make it grow, so it wasn't as hard. She made her way past him into his apartment which she had never been in before. Moira had only been to his previous house once, and that was to tell him the horrible news of the shipwreck, and after that they never spoke unless absolutely necessary. She was quite surprised by the dark tone of the place, his other house had been so bright, but she guessed the decorating was good representation of his mood.

"I love your place, it's quite…homey," Moira said, surprising both her and Lance with using such a word as homey.

"Yeah, thanks. Now what is it you're doing here? Sorry to be blunt, but I'm not really up for small talk."

Moira took another deep breath and then said, "Alright, I'll be frank with you. I found out something important this morning…Oliver is," Moira saw Lance's facial expression darken at his name, but she continued, "Oliver is alive."

That was all it took. It was like a dam broke as Lance's face turned redder than a beet and his eyes filled with tears. "Are you serious?" he asked as he used every ounce of strength he had not to cry. Moira nodded in response, and Lance immediately walked up to her and pushed her out the door. Before Moira could say anything else, Lance had already shut the door in her face.

She banged on the door, not caring how she looked as she said loudly, "I know you don't want to hear that, and you know that if I could do anything to have Sara come back with him I would, but there is something else that you need to know. Oliver called me on a ship, apparently, he was stranded on an island and Sara was there too. They were stranded there by themselves. Then…well Sara ended up becoming pregnant. They had a child, and they raised her together until Sara died of some disease. Gosh, I wish that I didn't have to tell you all that, but you needed to know. I am so sorry, but there is a chance to have a piece of Sara with you again, and she is coming here after living on an island her entire life, so I am going to do anything in my power to make up for the four years I have lost with her. I'm not going to be upset with you if you don't ever want to contact her, but I do think that it would help you. Here," she said while pulling a piece of paper out of her purse and writing on it, "I'm going to write down my new number, if you want to talk, call or text me at any time." Moira slid the paper underneath the door, waited a few moments to see if he would say anything, and then turned and walked back to her limo.

Inside the apartment, a man sat on the floor leaning against his door as he held a picture of his daughter when she was eight years old. He didn't want anything to do with that Queen, but if he was the only way he was going to get Sara back, even if it wasn't in the way he hoped, then he was going to put on the bravest face he could and be the best damb grandfather the world has ever scene.


	3. Chapter 3

Oliver was awoken by an EMT that was standing on the boat, trying to see if Oliver was in good enough shape to stand. He immediately noticed the fact that his arms were not holding his daughter, so he started to panicky. The only times Oliver had awoken to find his daughter more than five feet in front of him were dangerous ones, and that's why Oliver always feel asleep with her curled up tightly in his arms. The EMT noticed that he was starting to panic, so he quickly said, "Don't worry sir, we have your daughter. She is with my friend who is just checking a few things over there," he said while pointing over to where an ambulance sat right by the dock with his daughter sitting in the back. She was wearing an adult sized EMT shirt and drinking a juice box while one of the doctors playfully checked her legs and arms to see if she had any bad wounds. Oliver grimaced as he thought about all the broken bones and scars she had, heck five percent of her body was scar tissue. Oliver was scared that after a few minutes of checking her up, they would take her away to child services, and Oliver would be locked up for child abuse, though none of them were given to her by him.

"Don't worry, Donna is the best one of us when it comes to kids. She always makes sure to have juice boxes and snacks, and she is the best at coming up with little mind games to help distract them from the pain. She has seven kids under twelve at home and she is a single mom, so trust me you daughter is in the best hands. Now, if you would let me look at you, I promise I could probably slip you a juice box too." Oliver laughed quick stiff laugh, but his eyes were still locked on daughter. He was so scared to look at the EMT, too scared to even blink, all he wanted to do was get over to his daughter and engulf her in a hug, and promise her there is nothing to be scared of anymore. They were both safe. Oliver couldn't take sitting there anymore so he got up, despite the horrible pain in his leg due to the fact he was sleeping on it for ten hours straight at the very least. He ran over to her, despite the pleas of the EMT to stop, and when he was finally next to her he engulfed her into a large hug. His panic went away as he felt her little arms rap around him and her head lean against his shoulder.

"Your daughter is doing good sir, she has a lot of cuts and small bruises, I think her wrist may even be sprained, but other than that I think that she is doing well. Of course, I want to bring her back to the hospital with me, you too, but you both look to be doing well considering the fact that you've been on an island for the past five years. I am wearing a mask because I don't want to spread any diseases since your daughter probably hasn't built up an immunity only being around you. I am trying to get her to put on one as well, but she doesn't want to, could you try?" she asked while holding the small pink mask out to Oliver.

Oliver laughed and said, "Do you have any blue ones?"

The woman looked confused, so Oliver elaborated, "She hates the color light pink because it is to close to color of a fish I threw up. It was apparently not one of the tastier fish. The blue reminds her of the sky, so it's her favorite color." The young girl nodded in agreement, so the woman smiled and put the pink one back in her bag, switching it out for the blue one and handing it to Oliver to put on her.

"Now, you only have to wear this a little while, okay? When we get to the hospital and get our own room, then we can take it back off." Oliver lifted it slowly to make sure she was okay with putting it on, and when she nodded in agreement he smiled and slipped it over her mouth and nose, sliding the elastic back over her ears and then pinching at her nose to keep it secure. Though she was wearing the mask, Oliver could see her smiling from the way the tip of her nose and the space between her eyebrows shrived up. She let out a sweet laugh, and Oliver's heart lightened a little. They all four got in the ambulance together while Oliver sat on the side and his daughter laid next to him, holding his hand the entire ride.

FOUR YEARS AGO

Oliver sat against the wall rusty metal wall of his cell as he pushed his sweat filled bangs to the side and tried not to fall asleep. He was doing anything to keep him awake, including staring straight ahead and counting the amount of times the water dripped from the ceiling to the floor, landing in a large disgusting puddle. He got to 473 when he saw someone walk up to his cell out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head slightly to see Sara standing there with a pair of dry pants that Oliver wanted to immediately grab out of her hands and slip on. Oliver had no idea when the last time he wore a different pair of pants was. Heck, it was so bad he actually had dreams just about trying on pants. Oliver glanced down at her swollen stomach, his heart aching with the thought of his child not getting the nutrients it needs to survive. Oliver was definitely confused as to how the child was still alive, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, if that's what this was. There was a large chance, though, that this was more of a punishment then a gift. Oliver now not only had to get him off this island alive, but now also Sara and their child that resided inside of her.

"Sara, I-"

"-Shh, don't say my name. if they find out we know each other, we're both dead. Here," she said while she handed him the pants, which he took graciously.

"Is it," Oliver gulped, "Do you know if it's okay."

Sara gently placed her hand on the side of her stomach and said solemnly, "I don't know. I mean, he or she moves around a lot, so that's a good sign, but other than that I have no clue. I mean, it's not exactly like we have an ultrasound machine on this island or anything." She joked, but with no humor in her voice.

"I promise, I will do whatever it takes to get the three of us home. I have some friends on the outside of this place that can help us," Oliver whispered so only she could hear.

"I thought you said they were dead," Sara whispered back.

"They're not that easy to kill," Oliver responded through gritted teeth.

If you review me I'll send you a virtual cookie. Love ya'll.


	4. Chapter 4

The ride to the hospital was too long if you asked Oliver, who held his daughter close while trying not to think of what people would say. All he wanted to think about was how his daughter was going to have a good life now. She was going to be safe, and go to school, and have a family. A big family, not just him. Everything He and Sara wanted. When they finally arrived, Oliver picked his daughter up and held her on his side. When the ambulance doors opened, Oliver was immediately bombarded with paparazzi, asking him question after question. They ranged all the way from how did you survive, to how do you have a daughter, and asking who her mother was. Oliver ran into the hospital with the EMTs leading the way and they were brought to a up to a nice open room, where Oliver laid her on the bed. The EMTs left the room after promising Oliver that a doctor would be in soon. Twenty minutes later, a middle-aged man came in with a clipboard and an amazed look on his face. He held out his hand for Oliver, who took it and shook it while he said, "Hello."

"Hi, I'm Dr. Lamb, it's nice to meet you Oliver."

"Nice to meet you too."

Dr. Lamb walked over to where Oliver's daughter sat on the bed, looking at him in fear. He held out his hand for her and said, "Hi, I'm Dr. Lamb. Do you know what a doctor is?"

The young girl nodded enthusiastically and said, "Yeah, when I was three, I broke my arm and a doctor fixed it."

Dr. Lamb looked at Oliver confused, so he quickly said, "I pretended to be her doctor to help her feel better. We had to do a lot of pretending there."

Dr. Lamb nodded then checked his clipboard, missing the confused look the young girl gave her father and the wink he gave back.

"Okay, well why don't we get a blood test, and an x-ray to check on that arm, okay?" She looked scared when he said the word test, so Oliver walked over to her and placed his hand on her face.

"Don't worry. This man is trying to make sure that you are healthy. I won't let anyone hurt you, okay? You're safe now."

FOUR YEARS AGO . . .

Oliver laid on the floor of his cage, staring at the ceiling as he contemplated all the different ways he could break out of this hellhole. So far, he had come up with nothing, but he won't give up until he and his family are safe. He heard footsteps walk towards his cage, so he quickly jumped up in defense. Luckily, it was just Sara waddling her way over, with a bunch of keys in her hands.

"Oliver, come with me," she said as she quickly unlocked the door. He followed her to one of the rooms that had a radio transceiver in it. "Call to your friends."

Oliver picked up the transceiver and called out. "Shado, Slade, are you guys there?"

They waited for a second before hearing Slade say back, "Yes, yes kid, we are. Where are you?"

"Were on th-"

Suddenly, Sara pulled the Transceiver from Oliver's hand while Ivo and another man walked in, holding guns at his face.

"What?" Oliver asked Sara.

"You just let us know your friends are alive. Thank you, Oliver," Ivo said as the other man cocked the gun.

"WAIT," Sara shouted, stopping the man from pulling the trigger. "We still need him to lead us to his friends."

Ivo thought for a second, then nodded. "Yes, she's right. We still need him."

The other man looked upset that he wasn't able to kill Oliver, but he listened to his superior and lowered his weapon.

FOUR YEARS LATER…

After a long physical followed by a full body x-ray, Oliver and his daughter were sitting on the bed, facing each other while Oliver reminded her of a few things.

"Now remember, there are a lot of things we cannot mention to anyone else. They are our little secret, okay?" he asked while holding out his pinky.

She wrapped her tiny pinky around his, then asked, "What can't I talk about?"

"Well, you can't talk about how we went to Hong Kong, or how we went to Russia, or how we… lost mommy." Oliver said. He felt extremely guilty about having his four-year-old lie about half of her life, but he knew that it would raise many questions that Oliver was definitely not prepared to answer.

She nodded, but then asked, "Can I talk about home?"

Oliver nodded. He felt an ache in his chest whenever she said that Lian Yu was her home, but it was. She was born there, she lived more than half of her life there, Oliver wasn't going to make her keep everything a secret, she was just too young to understand the reason why lying was essential.

"хорошо (Okay)."

Yeah, she is fluent in Russian. Oliver doesn't know how he is going to cover that one up either. She has been speaking it for a year and she knows practically the same amount of Russian words that she does English since for a small period of time, she was taken care of by a Russian nanny, who did not speak English.

Oliver head a few people speaking outside of his room, and after a moment his throat started to tighten as he realized who one of the voices belonged too. It was his mother. He waited for a few moments before he heard the click of the door. When he turned, he saw his mother standing there, and his eyes started water. She didn't look that much older, but in the same way she looked as though she had gained ten to fifteen years while he was away.

"Oliver," she said with a soft tone, a small crack in her voice.

"Mom," he said, his voice just as soft.

She ran over to him and threw his arms around his neck while she said, "Oh Oliver."

"Mom."

They stayed in that embrace until Oliver felt his daughter pull at the edge of his shirt. He leaned down, picked her up, and said, "Mom, this is my daughter, Meifen, Mei, this is my mom, she is your grandmother."

Mei looked a little shy, but she held her small hand out for her. Moria looked to shocked to move, but she could reach her hand out and shake the hand of her granddaughter she just found out about. She was the spitting image of Sara, but she had Oliver's eyes. Moira had heard about all the scars and broken bones they both had, but seeing the foot-long scar that went down the tiny arm of the four-year-old girl made her shiver. She couldn't believe the horror they must have gone through in the last five years. Moira knew she couldn't change the hell they had both been through, but she was going to do anything to make sure that now they are back, they will never endure pain like that again.

"Oh, Oliver she is beautiful," Moira said, not being able to take her eyes off Mei.

"Yeah, she gets it from her mother," he said sadly.

"I am so sorry about what happened. It must have been horrifying for both of you." She raked her hands through Mei's hair as she spoke.

"Yeah, but we've managed. We're just happy to be home, finally," Oliver said, making Moira pull them both into another tight hug, promising to never let him leave her sight again. Oliver felt bad as he nodded, knowing that it was a lie.

 **Hey, sorry I took a break, I've been trying to write a novel… It's been difficult. I'm trying to keep up with all of my fanfictions the best I can. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

Oliver and Mei stayed overnight for observation, but once they got the all clear in the morning they were wheeled out to the front of the hospital where Moira was standing with a large shopping bag in her hand. As soon as she saw them, she crouched down to Mei's height and held out her arms.

"Come here Baby," she said, smiling when the girl ran to her and wrapped her arms around her neck. Moira frowned as she saw the girl was wearing the same over-sized, torn, dirty shirt she was sporting yesterday. It was long enough that it went to her ankles, but Moira didn't think it was appropriate for a four-year-old girl to be running around in her father's shirt. "I bought you some clothing."

The young one's grin widened as she looked at her father. "Daddy, she got clothes."

Oliver smiled, but you could tell he was slightly nervous about her reaction when she saw the clothing. There was no doubt in Oliver's mind that Moira bought the most expensive, beautiful dresses and skirts, but as a kid who had so far grown up wearing whatever Oliver could steal from stores and bags on the street, he had noticed that she was far happier in a pair of cargo shorts then any dress he had tried to put her in. "That was nice of her, say thank you."

"Thank you," she said sweetly, showing off her toothy grin.

"You are welcome. Now come on, I've already got a car seat in the limo." She put the girl on the ground and held her hand as they walked over to the driver who was holding the door open.

Mei climbed into the car first, followed by Oliver then Moira. Oliver leaned over to her seat and snapped the buckles.

"Daddy what is this?" she asked in reference to the car seat.

Moira decided to answer for him. "That is a car seat. We use those in cars, which is what we are in now. Cars were created to make it easy for us to go from place to place faster. When we get to our house, I will show you all the cool things that we have, like a refrigerator and a television."

"I know, but last time I was in a-," she was cut off by Oliver clearing his throat loudly and giving her a wink. "I mean this is fun, cars are fast," she said, covering herself and winking back at Oliver.

Oliver turned to Moira and said, "I taught her a lot about everyday things. We did have four years to do nothing, but try to get food and water, and to talk."

Moira nodded understandably. When they arrived, they all got out excitedly with Mei probably being the most excited of all of them. She grabbed Oliver's hand and tried to pull him inside, but he stopped her and gently pulled her to the back of the car where a guy was trying to pull his trunk out of the car.

"I got it," Oliver said as he placed his hand on top of the other man's. He grabbed his trunk, then he let Mei pull him into the house as she skipped in front of him.

When they walked in, Mei's eyes grew to the size of saucers as she looked around the mansion that was now her home. "Your room is exactly the way you left it. I never had the heart to change anything," Moira said as she walked in behind them.

After having a few seconds to take it in, Walter walked up to them while Raisa stood in the background grinning. "Oliver. It's damn good to see you." Oliver looked him up and down with a straight face as he shook his hand, but didn't say a word. "It's Walter, Walter Steel," he said, thinking Oliver might have forgotten who he was.

"You remember Walter," his mother quickly intervened, "your father's friend from the company."  
Oliver gave him another quick glance, before tugging at his daughter's hand and pulling her towards Raisa, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile.

"It's good to see you Raisa."

She smiled brightly while saying, "Welcome home Mr. Oliver." She leaned over and held her hand out for Mei, "and welcome home Ms. Queen. It is very nice to meet you." Mei looked up at Oliver, questioning if this woman was a friend or foe, and when Oliver nodded that it was okay to shake her hand, she smiled slightly and wrapped her tiny hand around Raisa's, shaking it enthusiastically. She looked over at Moira and said, "Mr. Merlyn phoned. He wants to join us for dinner."

"Wonderful," Moira commented.

Right after, they all heard a door close upstairs. Oliver turned to see his little sister, who wasn't that little anymore, standing there, looking just as surprised to see him as he was to see her.

"Hey, Sis."

She gasped, then said, "I knew it. I knew you were alive." She wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him into a tight embrace. "I missed you so much."

"You were with me the whole time," he told her, making her smile. When she pulled back, she gasped again when she saw Mei staring at up her with big eyes.

"Who are you?" Mei asked.

Thea was lost for words, but she realized that she needed to answer the girl with her brother's eyes. "I'm your Aunt Thea. I heard about you."

"I'm Mei. I'm four years old," she said while holding four fingers out.

"Wow, you are pretty big then. I bet you are a handful for my big brother, huh."

She looked up at Oliver and looked at him questionably. "You have no idea," he answered.

"Alright," Moira said after a moment, "let's get you in some new clothing."

She held out her hand for Mei, who took it and went to a room, Oliver followed closely behind. "This is your room," she said when she opened the door.

Mei looked nervous as she looked around, but luckily Oliver quickly noticed and said, "Don't worry, you can sleep with me at first," which helped her anxieties. Moira laid the bag on the bed.

"Here you go, Sweetie," she said and stood there waiting for her to change.

Mei looked at Oliver with a nervous expression, making Oliver smile and say, "Mom, I think she is a little nervous to change in front of someone." Mei nodded.

Moira smiled and said, "I understand. I will leave you two. Oliver, I have new clothing for you as well in the bag."

Oliver thanked her before shutting the door. He searched through the bag and, sure enough, there was a bright pink, fluffy dress and a blue skirt and button up top. He looked at her nervously before handing them to her. Her grin flew from her face as she looked at the clothing, but started to change anyway. Oliver took off his shirt, but before he could put his new one on he caught his reflection in the mirror. He stared at himself, and all the scars that covered his body, with a scowl. Mei noticed his actions and decided to mirror him. She stood shirtless in front of the mirror, took off her shirt, and stared at her scars with a scowl while letting out a low growling sound. Oliver saw that she was mirroring him and smiled.

"Why are you scowling?" she asked. Oliver never looked at his scars negatively while around her, so that she didn't feel bad about her own. Oliver decided to be honest with her.

"Some people are negative about scars. They look at them with pity, and I don't want pity."

"Me either. Pity is for babies." She agreed.

 _FOUR YEARS AGO . . ._

 _Oliver led them to the airplane he had been living in for the past year._

" _You don't have to do this," Oliver told the people, but mostly Sara._

" _Ivo says we do," she responded._

 _One of the men went over to one of the large gaps in the plane and looked inside to see if Shado or Slade were in there. When he noticed they weren't in there, he turned and notified Ivo. Ivo pulled out a small device and said, "Chargers are set. Here's the detonator." He held it up to reveal the screen that red 4:30. "Let's make sure they have don't have any place to come back to."_

 _He gave it to the guy, telling him to go. The man threw the detonator into the plane then they started to walk away while telling Oliver is he was going to take them to the graves._


	6. Chapter 6

_After five years, everything that was once familiar is now unrecognizable. The face I see in the mirror is a stranger._

 _Four Years Ago…_

" _Where is it? COME ON, WHERE IS IT?" Ivo asked. HE then turned to Oliver and asked, "Where is the Hosen."_

 _Oliver tried to keep a straight face as he asked, "What?"_

" _The arrowhead. Every report said that it was with these bodies, you said you and your friends were here now, where is it?" When Oliver didn't answer, he turned to one of his men and said, "Make him tell us where his friends are." The man smiled, then picked Oliver up by his collar and threw him outside of the cave._

 _"Take us to them," the man said, but Oliver would rather die than betray his friends, so he said, "I don't know where they are."_

 _The guy started to get angry, so he pulled out his gun and shoved it at Oliver's hand. "Tell me, or lose a hand."_

 _Just when Oliver was prepared to take the bullet, two people walked up and the woman said, "Let us suggest another option." SHADO! Oliver thought in relief._

" _You hand the kid over to us, and we won't kill you all," Slade threatened._

 _Ivo stepped out to see what all the commotion was about, when he noticed the two unwelcomed visitors. "So, obviously you three took the hosen out of this cave," he turned to one of his men, "Lift him up. Now, I know that he doesn't have it, so one of you do. Give it to us and we'll discuss an exchange."_

" _We don't know what you're talking about," said Shado, "Give us Oliver, and we'll leave you alone to look for it."_

 _Before anyone else could say anything, Slade had pointed his gun at one of the men who was pulling their gun out, and asked, "Does anyone else wanna be stupid?"_

" _Hey, Hey," Ivo shouted as Shado pointed her bow at him, "Cut him loose." He said to his man._

 _The man pulled out his knife and cut the cloth holding Oliver's hands together, apart. Oliver took that opportunity to punch the man in front of him in the face._

" _COME ON MOVE," Oliver shouted as he grabbed Sara and pulled her away from the shooting._

" _What are you doing?" she asked, but he didn't answer her as he started to run with the others._

" _We have to keep going. They are following us," Oliver said to his group as the ran as fast as physically possible._

" _We know," Shado said, as she pulled out the bomb she messed with to re-detonate, and dropped it behind them, blowing up any of Ivo's men that followed._

The Present. 

Once Oliver finally convinced an upset Mei to put on her big, pink dress, he picked her up over his shoulder and carried her into the living room where his mom was. She held out her hand for her granddaughter and led her into the room to "introduce" her to television.

Before Oliver could follow though, the door opened behind him and a familiar voice said, "What did I tell ya? Yachts suck."

Oliver smiled as he turned around. He was barely able to get out the words, "Tommy Merlyn," before he was engulfed in a hug.

"I missed you, buddy."

"I missed you to man," Oliver replied. He wasn't sure if the man in front of him knew of the little girl who was sitting in the living room, because they tried to get on all news outlets before they said anything about her. "I have something to tell you."

Tommy laughed, "I have something to tell you, too. A lot of things. Let's catch-"

He was cut off by the sound of little feet running towards them, and a small voice that said, "Daddy, come on." She didn't noticed Tommy, until she was right beside Oliver, and when she saw him, she immediately wrapped her arms around her father's leg nervously.

To say Tommy's jaw dropped to the floor would be an understatement. If it was possible, Oliver was sure it would drop below the floor, through the earth, and all the way to China. "W-Who, who is this?" he asked.

Oliver leaned over, picked her up, sat her on his side and said, "This is my daughter. Mine and Sara's daughter."

"Daughter? You and Sara? You have a daughter? You are a father? To another person? How?"

Oliver laughed slightly, then said, "I could draw you a diagram, but I'm pretty sure with all the pregnancy scares you went through in high school, you know how."

"Ha, ha, ha. It only happened one time," Tommy said, but they both knew it wasn't true. "So, how old is she?" he asked.

Instead of answering himself, Oliver turned to Mei and asked, "Hey, can you show Tommy how old you are?"

She pulled her face out of his shoulder, then held up four fingers.

"Wow, four that's a lot of time to live on an island," he said to the little girl. They all three stood there awkwardly then Tommy finally walked a little closer to them and said, "Well, it's nice to meet you, uh…"

"Mei," Oliver told him.

"Ah Mei, pretty name," he said while he tried to play cool on the outside, but on the inside, he was still in having an eternal freak out. "I'm your daddy's friend. We used to have a lot of fun together," he said, and Oliver could see the sadness in his eyes when he realized that he might not be getting his party buddy back after all.

"Yeah, and we're going to have some more fun soon. We have five years to make up for," Oliver said, making Tommy's smile reappear.

Raisa came into the room and said with a bright smile, "Mr. Oliver, Mr. Merlyn, Dinner is ready now."

The three of them made their way to the dining room where Oliver sat on one end of the table and Mei sat beside him, with Tommy across from them next to Thea. Once they were served, Tommy emediatly started to catch Oliver up on all the things he has missed while he's been away.

"Okay, so Superbowl winners, Giants, Steelers, Saints, Packers, Giants again. A black president, that's new. Oh and "Lost", they were all dead, I think." He would have continued with the list he most likely made on the car ride over when Thea interrupted.

"What was it like there?"

Everyone turned to her, shocked that she would ask such a question so bluntly.

"Cold," Oliver answered simply.

Tommy tried to break out of the weirdness by saying, "Tomorrow, you and me we are hitting the city. You've got a lot to catch up on."

"That would be lovely," his mother commented, but Oliver had different plans.

"Good, then I was hoping to swing by the office," noting the way that Moira and Walter were both looking at him.

"Well there is plenty of time for that," Walter commented, making Oliver clenched his teeth a bit, "Queen Consolidated isn't going anywhere."

Before anyone could say anything else, Raisa tripped while carrying the bowl of fruit over to the table. "Oh, I am so sorry, Mr. Queen," she apologized with a worried look on her face.

"все в порядке (It is alright)" Oliver said, making every except for Mei's eyes widen.

When she heard him speak in Russian, she started grin as she asked, "Ты говоришь по-русски? (You speak Russian?)"

"Woah dude you speak Russian?" Tommy asked, amazed at both him and the four-year-old next to him.

"I didn't know you took Russian in college, Oliver?" Walter asked.

"I didn't know you wanted to sleep with my mother, Walter," Oliver commented, making everyone freeze.

Oliver got nervous, but didn't let it show as he saw his mother grab Walter's hand. "Oliver, Walter and I are married, and I don't want you to think that either ones of us did anything to disrespect your father."

"We both believed that your father, like you, were… gone."

"Stop," Oliver said, before he stood and asked, "May I be excused?"

His mother nodded. He walked away from the table when Tommy said, "Don't forget about tomorrow buddy." Oliver patted him on the shoulder, then winked at Thea, before he walked out.

 _Four Years Ago…_

 _Oliver and the rest of his friends kept running until Sara felt they were far enough and stopped Oliver by grabbing his arm and asked, "Why did you do that?"_

 _Oliver raised his eyebrow, "You mean besides the fact that you saved my life from the captain, and oh yeah, you are pregnant with our child." He turned to Shado, "Thank you for coming. Shado he doesn't look to good," Oliver said while nodding to Slade._

" _He's not," she turned to Sara, and asked, "Who's this?"_

" _It's complicated. That hosen thing they are looking for, it's back on the plane."_

" _No, I've got it," Shado said as she pulled the hosen out from under her shirt where she wore it as a necklace. "It has a Buddhist inscription on one side. It reminded me of my father."_

 _Slade walked up to the slowly, and said, "I'm pretty sure, they aren't interested in Buddhism."_

" _What's on the other side?" Oliver asked._

" _30, 30, 175, 12," she answered confused._

 _Oliver sighed and said, "Okay numbers, what…"_

" _Coordinates," Shado said, finally getting it. "To what?" she asked._

" _A Kairyu-class Japanese submarine which ran around here during World War two," Sara answered._

" _What do these guys want with a seventy-year-old sub?"_

" _The sub isn't important, but what's on it… it can save the human race," Sara said._

" _Can it save him?" Oliver asked, concerned as he looked over at Slade._

" _I don't kn-" she was cut off by a sharp pain shooting through her stomach. She grabbed on to Oliver's arm and let out a loud moan._

" _Sara, what's wrong?" Oliver asked._

 _After the pain passed, Sara leaned against him and said, "I think," she gulped, "I think I just had a contraction._

Present Day…

Oliver tumbled and turned as he laid down on the floor asleep. All the commotion woke both Moira and Walter, who barged into his room to see what was wrong. Right before Moira was about to shake him to get him to wake up, Mei whispered, "No," and ran in between Oliver and Moira so she wouldn't touch him. She then laid on the floor, buried herself against his chest, and wrapped his large arms around her, making his stirring stop almost instantaneously. Walter and Moira both looked at each other with confusion, but figured that the four-year-old in Oliver's arms probably knew more about the new Oliver than they did, so they left them to go back to sleep. After they closed the door, Oliver's eyes opened and he looked down at Mei who was still wide awake.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I can't sleep," she said grumpily.

"Do you want to get back into bed?" he asked while he sat up.

"No, I mean yeah, but that's not why."

"Then what's wrong, sweetie?"

She pulled at the edge of her pajama shirt and said, "These cloths feel weird. I don't like it."

Oliver smiled as he said, "Okay, well we can't have you not sleeping. I think tomorrow will be a big day for you, so here, arms up." Her arms jumped to sky as he helped her out of her new silky pajamas his mother had bought him, and into one of his new shirts. They sat there for a moment before he asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Can we still fight?" she asked. On and off the Island, there had been many times that Oliver felt it was necessary for her to learn to fight. At least enough to fend off one person so she could run away, but after a while it stopped being a necessity, and started to become something they both bonded over. She knew much more than the average four-year-old should know about technique and skill when it came to different punches and kicks, and how to use them, but she loved it, so Oliver nodded. She smiled and held out her tiny fist, which Oliver wrapped his much larger hand around, which was the thing they did when they made an agreement, kind of like a pinky swear. She liked to switch between the two depended on how "tough" she felt. Oliver lifted her up and held her in a cradle till he reached his bed, which he gently tossed her on. She quickly shuffled under the blanket, while Oliver took his time getting comfortable, and once they were both much warmer, Mei scooted over to Oliver and cuddled with him till she fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hey guys, Thanks for all of the great comments. If you leave questions, I try to address them in the next few chapters to clear them up for you, so I hope it helps. Have a great day, - ScruffyPalace!**_

 _Oliver didn't know what to do. Right now, he was trying to get as far away as possible from the people trying to kill them, while finding the thing that should be able to cure Slade, and now Sara has started having contractions._

" _What? Are you sure?" Oliver asked, dumfounded._

 _Sara looked up at him with rage in her eyes. "Of course, I'm sure. I think I would know if a person was trying to come out of me or not!"_

" _We have to keep going. We can't stay here. It's not safe for any of us. If we get to the submarine, we can stay there until she gives birth, and then try to find what can help Slade," Shado said, taking control of the situation._

 _Oliver raised his eyebrow at Sara, then asked, "Do you think you can make it till then?"_

 _After the contraction passed, Sara took a deep breath before saying, "I'll try. This can take hours, but I can't exactly control when they want to come out."_

" _Alright, so we are all in agreement?" Shado asked the group. They nodded. "Then let's move."_

 _Oliver lifted Sara, trying to hold in the grunt as he carried her behind Shado as she led them to the submarine._

 **Present Day…**

"Don't you want to stay with your Aunt Thea and Grandma? I bet you will have a lot of fun," Oliver said as he tried to convince his daughter to let go of the death grip she had on his leg.

"No, Daddy, don't leave me," she said through the tears that were pouring down her face.

Oliver leaned down and pushed her away gently with his hands and then placed them on her shoulders. "Hey, if you stay here, I bet Grandma will make you the best ice cream sundae ever. How does that sound?"

Mei looked to be in deep thought for a moment as she contemplated what to do. She turned to look at Thea and Moira who were close by, but far enough to give them their space, then she turned back to Oliver and nodded. He smiled at her, then wiped the tears out of her eyes, and gave her a kiss on the head.

"I love you," he told her.

"I love you too," she whispered, before running over to Thea's open arms.

Oliver turned to Tommy, then asked, "Ready?"

Tommy nodded, then turned to Mei and said, "Bye." She gave him a small wave in return.

Once the two men were in Tommy's car, they started chatting like old times.

"Hey, your funeral blew," said Tommy.

"Did you get lucky?" Oliver asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Like fish in a barrel," he replied happily, "they were so sad, and hungry-"

"-No." Oliver said, cutting him off.

"And I am counting on another target rich environment for your welcome home bash."

"At my what?" Oliver asked.

"You came back from the dead. This calls for a party. Tell me when and where. I'll take care of everything."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Do you remember how hard it was to get Mei to let me leave her a few minutes ago. Do you think that I want to do that to her again? I just don't know if a party is the best option for me right now. I am a dad now, a single dad at that, so I don't know."

Tommy looked disappointed, but tried one more time. "Here, how about we have the party after she goes to sleep. Then you can sneak out, and then sneak back in before she wakes up. She will never notice you are gone."

Oliver didn't think that would work, but he figured that he owed it to Tommy to give him one night.

"Okay," he agreed, "but nothing too big."

"Sure," Tommy said, with no sincerity in his tone, "so what do you want to get into first, huh?"

"I want to see Laurel," Oliver said.

Tommy raised his eyebrow. "You want to see the one person who is not happy you are alive?"

"I have to tell her about Mei. She has to hear it from me. I had the news hold off on saying anything about her for a few days, but sooner or later, they will. So, that is why I have to tell her now."

"I'm sure her dad already told her," said Tommy as he tried to convince his best friend of the horrible decision he was making.

"He probably did, but I still have to talk to her."

 _ **Four Years Ago…**_

 _After a long walk, they finally found the submarine, and they were all thrilled. Shado had taken to helping Slade walk, as Oliver had his arms filled with Sara. They made it there with perfect timing, because once they stepped on the Sub, Sara yelled out in pain, "I NEED TO PUSH!"_

 _Shado sat Slade against the wall, then sat behind Sara as she helped her sit up and held her hand. Oliver had to take the control of helping the baby out, so after swallowing back some puke that had made it's way up his throat from seeing things he did not want to see, he told her when and when not to push. He had seen enough movies to get the jist of what should be going on._

" _Okay, I can see their head, give me a big push okay," Oliver told her. She gave her all for forty-five minutes of pushing on and off, before the rest of the baby was out, and cradled in Oliver's arms._

" _Oh my gosh," he said in pure adoration, "it's a girl."_

 _Sara held her hands out for their daughter. Oliver gently passed her over._

" _We need to cut the cord," Shado said, as she took the shoelace out of her shoe and wrapped it around to clamp it. Once that was done, she pulled out a knife and cut the cord, which made the baby immediately start crying._

" _Hi there, little girl. I'm your Mommy. I'm so happy to finally meet you. Sorry that this is what you are born into," she said sadly, then kissed the top of her baby's head._

 _Oliver climbed around to the place that Shado was sitting, and held Sara up as he too met his daughter. "Hey, I'm your dad. We are going to get you home one day, I promise," Oliver said, but it was only to make her feel better, as Oliver had no idea how he would do that._

 **Present Day…**

Walking into CNRI, Oliver felt a twist of nausea in his stomach. He went to the floor that Tommy told him she worked on, but not before warning him that it was not going to be pretty, and that he would leave his but behind. Oliver wasn't expecting her to be happy to see him, and he wouldn't be surprised if he was slapped in the face, or even punched for that matter. He knew he deserved it, but she had to hear about Mei, and Sara, so after taking a deep breath, he opened the door and walked in to see her talking to another woman around her age. They were discussing someone, and Oliver's eyes widened when he heard the name Adam Hunt, one of the men on his father's list. She turned around and noticed Oliver. As soon as she recognized the man in front of her, her smile fell from her face.

She was speechless, so he decided to say something, "Hello, Laurel." She still didn't say anything. The shock was keeping her quiet right now, but he could tell by the look on her face that she was about to blow at any moment, so he asked, "Why don't we go outside?"

They walked outside in uncomfortable silence, so once they got out there, Oliver decided to fill the silence. "So, you went to law school. You said you would."

"Yeah, everyone's proud," she said before looking away from him.

"Adam Hunt, he's a heavy hitter. You sure you want to get in the ring with him?"

"Five years and you want to talk about Adam Hunt?"

Oliver stopped walking and turned to face her. "No."

"Why are you here, Ollie?"

"To apologize. It was my fault. I wanted to ask you not to blame her," he said, chickening out of telling her the truth.

"For what? Falling under your spell? How can I possibly blame her for doing the same things that I did?"

"I never meant t-"

"-She was my sister, Ollie. I couldn't be angry, because she was dead. I couldn't grieve, because I was so angry. That's what happens when someone dies while screwing your boyfriend."

"We buried an empty coffin, because her body was at the bottom of the ocean, where you left her. It should have been you."

"I know that it's too late, but I'm sorry. There is something else, though."

"What? What else could there possibly be?"

"Sara made it to the island with me. She lived for a year before she died. She died from an infection she contracted after she…after she gave birth to our daughter," Oliver lied, the truth being obviously to complicated to tell others.

Laurel's eyes widened in shock as she tried to comprehend what he was telling her.

"What? You're not saying…that my sister and you…that she," Laurel couldn't finish her sentence. She looked around for a chair, and once she found one she sat in it and stared into space.

Oliver sat next to her, then said, "We have a daughter, and we call her Mei, but her full name is Laurel Meifen Queen."

 _ **Four Years Ago…**_

 _Once the amniotic sack was dispelled, thrown out, and Oliver had taken his shirt and wrapped their daughter in it, the young parents sat with their back against the submarine wall while they stared down at the baby they had created._

" _She is so beautiful," Oliver commented as he rubbed his thumb down the side of his daughter's bald head._

" _Yeah, she is," Sara agreed, "She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."_

" _I can't believe we have a baby. Especially like this. I'm surprised she seems okay."_

" _Yeah, but what are we going to do now? Infants need a lot of stuff that we obviously don't have, and we are constantly running for our lives. We can't do that now she's here," Sara said as she started to get anxious._

" _Hey, hey, hey, it's going to be okay. I don't know how, but I will make sure that it is okay. Now, let's think about a name for this little one."_

" _I don't know if this makes sence, and if we do escape-"_

" _-We will escape," Oliver interrupted._

" _Okay, but I think we should honor the person who was most important in our lives, before she came along, of course. I think we should name her Laurel."_

 _Oliver thought it over. Yes, it would be would be weird if they made it off the island and told Laurel that the daughter they conceived while Oliver was still with her, they named after her. It might make for an awkward situation, but the chances of them actually making it back were so slim, and she was the one person they both could count on, so it did make sence._

" _Yeah, Laurel. What about a middle name?" he asked._

 _They both contemplated ideas in their head's, but came up with nothing, so Sara turned to Shado and asked, "What do you think?"_

 _She looked up from the Mirukuru she was examining, to say, "Oh, I don't know. I'm not sure if I have any interesting names. I'm not that creative."_

" _Oh, come on. I'm sure you have some cool names in your family," Oliver pushed._

 _She thought it over for a second, then said, "Meifen. It means beautiful."_

 _Sara smiled. "That's a pretty name."_

" _It's my sister's name."_

" _I didn't know you had a sister," Oliver said._

 _Shado was about to respond, when they heard a loud groan come from Slade, who was barely able to sit up on his own. They ran to him quickly, Shado helping him back into a sitting position._

" _I…don't think…I am going to make it…much longer," Slade said as his eyes started to droop._

 _Shado pulled out the Mirukuru and said, "We can use this. It can save you, but it can also kill you."_

" _just…do it," he said with all the energy he could muster._

 _Shado stabbed the Mirukuru into his leg. He continuously gasped for air, until his eyes widened, and he dropped to the floor._


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hey, I wanted to thank all of you who took time to leave me a comment for my last chapter, I always appreciate when you do that! You guys are awesome. To the guest who left a lot of questions in the reviews, I would have sent you a pm, but I didn't have a way to, so I'll answer you up here. He didn't actually owe Tommy something, but his best friend has lived through the pain of his best friend being "dead" for the last five years, so he felt it would be nice to let him live like they used to, even though it is only one night. He needed to talk to Laurel, because he felt it would be better for her to hear about her daughter from him, then some random news outlet. I wrote the part about how she wished he was dead and rotted in hell longer, just like the dialogue on the show, which he acted calm to, so if you have a problem with that part, I would tweet Mark Guggenheim. Like I said in the last chapter, Oliver never actually thought he would make it back when he named her, so he didn't think she would ever know. Again, the mirukuru thing happened just like it did in the show. I don't know what being a dumbass about gear is, but I am trying to make it different because of her. Last, ow that he has a kid? That's the plot to this story. I'm sorry if you just realized that, but I put that in the summary. Thanks, and have a great day – Scruffy Palace!**_

 _Oliver didn't know what to do as he saw the man who had become like a brother to him, fall limp on the ground. He heard a small shutter come from Shado, so he quickly ran and comforted her. They stood in a tight hold, until they heard Sara say, "Guys, I can hear them. They are coming close."_

 _She looked down at the baby in her arms, and then back at Oliver worriedly. "What do we do with her. He will kill her, I know he will. He told me as soon as she was born she would be dead, or worse," she gulped, "He said he would test the mirukuru on her."_

 _Oliver's eye's widened as he tried to think of a way that he could keep their daughter hidden. Suddenly, he got an idea. He held out his arms for her, and once she was in them, he ran into the room behind him, and put her in a tiny crate, just big enough for her to lay comfortably. He then took a few of the chairs, and made sure that she was well hidden, before walking back into the room. He was right on time, because not even a minute later, Ivo and his crew had arrived._

" _LOWER YOUR WEAPONS," he screamed as he came toward them, each of his men holding guns that were pointed at them. He walked up to Sara and placed the tip of his gun to her forehead, then when he noticed that she was no longer pregnant, he asked, "Where is the baby?"_

" _She died," Sara lied._

 _He gritted his teeth as he leaned in and whispered, "I don't believe you."_

" _It's true," Oliver said, "It couldn't breathe, it was born too early, so it died right after it was born." Ivo looked at both of them, trying to tell if they were lying, but when he couldn't find any tells he then threw Sara at Oliver and Shado._

 _He kneeled to where Slade's body sat, and held his hand out to check for a pulse. Once it was confirmed he was dead, he pulled his hand back. He then noticed the empty syringe next to him, and picked it up gently. Oliver's heart clenched as he saw one of Ivo's men walk behind him into the room, and come out a moment later with a crate. Luckily, instead of it being the crate with Mei in it, it was the one filled with mirukuru. Ivo looked at the box as he glided his hand over it, then turned and said to the men behind him, "Take them outside."_

 _As they made their way outside, Sara pleaded with Ivo. "Anthony, you got what you wanted, you can let them go. If you ever cared about me."_

" _But I do care about you, Sara. Which is why I'm not going to kill you, but he might." He threw her to the ground, next to Shado, and held his gun towards both their heads._

" _What are you talking about?" Oliver asked as he saw both women's eyes fill with fear._

" _It's time to choose Oliver, who lives and who dies, but pick quickly, because in thirty seconds, I will shoot them both."_

"Okaaay, so that went well," Tommy said, trying to brighten the mood as they walked down the street. "What do you want to do next?"

Oliver didn't get a chance to respond, though, as they were both shot in the neck with darts. Oliver caught his, but made it look as though he didn't. However, Tommy did not catch the dart and he quickly tumbled to the ground as a man in a red skull mask came up with an AK-47, and bags were shoved over their heads.

Oliver didn't know where he was being taken, but he knew it was better to pretend they had him captured, so he could make sure he got Tommy out of there. Once the movement had stopped, Oliver felt himself being zip cuffed to a chair. Oliver waited until the bag was removed from his head, and he was able to see his attacker holding up a taser, saying, "Mr. Queen, did your father survive that accident?" Oliver didn't respond. "I ask the questions, you give me the answers." Still, Oliver remained silent. The man who was asking the questions turned to the man behind him, and shrugged, as if not sure what to do next. He then turned back to Oliver, and tased him in the chest, making him scream out in pain.

"Did he make it to the island? Did he tell you anything?" the guy asked. Oliver just glared, so the guy tased him again, trying to make him talk.

"Yes, he did," Oliver finally admitted.

"What did he tell you, Mr. Queen?" the man asked while leaning closer.

"He told me that I am going to kill you," Oliver responded.

The man stood up and laughed. "You're delusional. You're zip-cuffed to that chair.

Oliver looked the man in the eyes, then moved his free hands from behind his back, "Not anymore."

The guy goes to punch Oliver, but he leaps out of the way just in time, then uses the chair as a shield from the guy as he goes for him. Oliver fights the men off, killing them one by one until it was down to the last one. Oliver chased the man around the buildings until he caught him and put him in a headlock.

"You don't have to do this," he said, begging for his life.

" _You don't have to do this,"_

" _You don't have to do this,"_

" _You don't have to do this," Oliver pleaded as he watched the two women he had grown to love shiver as they feared what was to come._

" _YOU GOT WHAT YOU CAME FOR," Oliver yelled, "just take it and go."_

 _Ivo just stood there, clicked the hammer back, and pointed it at Shado's head. "Ten seconds."_

" _YOU FREAKIN' PSYCHOPATH!" Oliver screamed._

" _History will make that judgment," he said as he moved to point the gun at Sara, "five seconds."_

" _WAIT," Shado screamed as she stood from where she was once kneeling, "Kill me."_

" _NO," Oliver screamed, "What are you doing?"_

 _Shado looked at him with tears in her eyes as she said, "Come on Oliver, it was obvious who you were going to choose. She needs you," she said, then gave him a wink and a small smile to tell him she was talking about Mei. She then turned to Ivo. "Kill me."_

 _He smiled a sly smile, and with the quick movement of his arm, he shot her right in the head._

" _NOOOOOO!" He screamed, as he watched her body fall to the ground, just like Slade's had moments before._

"I have to. No one can know my secret," he said, then without a second thought, broke the guys neck.

Hours later, after Oliver had carried Tommy back to his house and told his mother everything that had happened, they all sat in an uncomfortable silence as they waited for the police to arrive, and they knew who would be showing up. Oliver thought it would be best to prepare Mei in meeting her grandfather for the first time, so he took her to their room and said, "Okay, so you know how I told you that Moira is my mom, and so that makes her your Grandma?" She nodded. "Well, mommy had a mom and dad too, and mommy's dad is coming over in a little bit. He might not seem happy, because he is still sad that mommy is gone, but I'm sure he would love if you were super nice to him. So, can you do that for me?" She grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Great, stay here until I tell you to come out." He stood up and gave her a gentle kiss on the head before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

He made his way into the living room where Moira sat across from Tommy as they spoke of what he could remember.

"I really didn't see much. Oliver can tell you more," he said for what felt like the millionth time.

"Really? There isn't any detail you can remember about the men?" she asked.

"Mom, he said he doesn't remember anything, and I don't think that your questions are going to help him remember any better."

Moira huffed, but then grinned and said, "Alright, but make sure you tell them anything you can think of when they get here."

Just like on cue, the doorbell rang. Moira stood up and went to answer it, as Oliver sat to the left of Tommy. Oliver couldn't hear the conversation going on between the people in the next room, but he didn't think it was very civil.

After a few moments, he heard footsteps, so he sat up straight and tried to prepare himself for what Lance would say. When The older man caught his first glance at Oliver, his eyes filled with fire that he wished he could use on the younger man.

"Mr. Queen," he said, and Oliver could tell he was holding back anger, and also a hint of sadness.

Oliver stood to greet him. "Mr. Lance."

He held out his hand for him to shake, but the man just looked him in the eyes sternly and said, "It's Detective Lance."

The conversation they had was long, and Oliver's mom even had to jump in for a moment to tell Lance off for what he said to Oliver, but finally they wrapped up, and Lance and his partner stood and walked to the door. His partner and the other cops were already outside headed to their cars, when Lance was stopped on the way to his own. His glance turned to a little blond-haired girl who was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, leaning against the post.

She looked him up and down quizzically, then asked, "Are you my Mommy's daddy?"

Lance's throat tightened as any doubt that Moira had been mistaken, and Sara really didn't have a daughter was thrown out of his mind, because here she was. Here she was standing right in front of him, with her same hair, her same smile, heck she even had the same cheeks. He didn't know if he would be able to talk or not, so he simply nodded.

She slowly walked over to him. "Daddy said you are sad that mommy died."

Lance nodded again.

She looked around the room to see if anyone was listening, then leaned in and cupped her hands around her lips as she whispered, "Do you wanna hear a secret?"

"Yeah," he said as he finally gained enough confidence to talk. She waved for him to lean down. Once he did just that, she leaned to his ear and whispered, "I miss her too."

Lance tried to stop the tears in his eyes as he listened to his granddaughter. "Yeah?" he asked.

Mei nodded. "Uh huh. Daddy does too. He doesn't like to talk about her though, unless he's asleep. It hurts his heart. Does it hurt your heart?" she asked, her big blue eyes staring up at him.

"Yes, but do you know what would help?" he asked her.

"What?"

"If you gave me a hug," he suggested.

Mei smiled as she immediately wrapped her arms around him, and for a moment he was flashed back in time to when Sara was that little and would wrap her arms around him every day he would come home from work. He was pulled out of his memory, though when Mei pulled back.

"Better?" she asked hopefully.

Lance wiped at the tears streaming down his face as he said, "Yeah, a little."


	9. One Crazy Night

Hey, I just wanted to tell all my arrow fans out there that I have posted a new fanfiction called One Crazy Night. Before you read I want to let you know it is NOT Barry/ Oliver, because it may sound that way at first. One night, Barry, Oliver, and Felicity went undercover to catch a guy who was creating a new drug that was ten times worse than vertigo. Barry and Oliver get dosed, so they end up sleeping together. They agree to never mention it again, and a week later Barry is struck by lightning and put in a coma. Everything seems normal till about a month later when Cisco notices a fetus inside of Barry. Don't like Mpreg, don't read it. I hope some of you check it out. :-)


	10. Chapter 9

**Hope ya'll enjoy the chapter, and tell me if you have anything you want to see. Have a great weekend. Sorry it's taken so long to update, I hope this longer chapter helps to make up for it – ScruffyPalace**

 _Oliver kneeled on the ground as he held Shado's body close to his. He couldn't believe what had just happened. In the last few moments, Oliver had lost not one, but two of his closest friends who had walked through hell for him. Sara stood close by Oliver as she comforted him, but also gave him his space to say goodbye. After a few moments, Sara stood and said, "I am going to go back and get Laurel, you stay here with Shado."_

 _Right before she turned around, they both heard a gruff voice behind them say, "Looking for this?"_

 _Oliver's eyes widened as he easily recognized the voice. Sara ran and took Laurel from Slade, kissing every square inch of her face as she as she held her tight. Slade walked up behind Oliver and hit his hand against the other man's shoulder happily, until he noticed the body lying in Oliver's arms. He too, fell to his knees as he picked her up and held her closely in pain. His pain quickly turned to rage as he asked, "Why?"_

" _I-" Oliver started, but was cut off by Sara._

" _Ivo just shot her. He didn't say why."_

" _Whoever did this to her," he said as he picked up her body, "is going to suffer."_

 **PRESENT DAY**

Oliver held Mei's hand as they walked out of the house toward their car, when they were stopped by Moira.

"Oliver, I want to introduce you to someone - John Diggle, he will be accompanying you from now on."

"I don't need a babysitter," Oliver protested.

"Darling, Oliver's a grown man. If he says he doesn't need protection-" Walter tried to intervene, but was quickly cut off by Moira saying, "-I know, but this is something I need."

Oliver looked over at Diggle and considered what his mother was asking of him, before he gave up and agreed with her, figuring he could humor his mother, and still ditch him when he needed to.

Oliver strapped Mei into her car seat, before asking, "So what do I call you?"

"Diggle's fine. Dig if you want," he answered.

"You're ex-military?" Oliver questioned.

"Yes sir, 105th airborne out of Kandahar, retired. Been in the private sector for a little over five years now. I don't want any confusion, Mr. Queen. My ability to keep you safe may outweigh your comfort. Do we have an agreement?" he asked.

Oliver nodded, but then sent a wink to Mei who giggled.

"Where will I be taking you, sir?" Diggle asked.

"I need to go to a friend's apartment - Laurel Lance." He handed Diggle a sheet of paper with an address on it, then sat back and tried to forget about the awkward conversation that he had on the phone the previous night with Laurel.

 **THE PREVIOUS NIGHT**

 _Oliver threw Mei into their bed, before wrapping the blankets around her securely, and kissing her on the forehead._

" _Are you going to bed yet, daddy?" she asked, her innocent eyes staring up at him hoping he would say yes._

" _Soon. I just have to do a few things first. We have a big day tomorrow, and you need some sleep." He hopped off the bed and made his way to the kitchen where Raisa had left out some cookies for him, and he threw one in his mouth. He needed a moment to breathe and take in the past couple of days before he could start what he came back for. Though, before he could grab a breath his phone rang. His eyes widened when he noticed the name that popped on his screen._

 _Laurel_

 _He slid his thumb across the screen and put the phone to his ear. "Hello."_

" _Oliver?" he heard her whisper._

" _Yeah," he answered, then waited for a few moments in silence._

" _I…I wanted to talk to you, about…Mei."_

 _Oliver's eyes widened in surprise. He had been expecting a call from her, but not so soon. He thought she would a take a few days at the least, before calling, but he was glad she did so._

" _Okay."_

 _She took a deep breath. "My father told me he met her today. He told me she looks just like Sara."_

 _Oliver smiled as he glanced back at his bedroom. "Yeah, she definitely does."_

 _More silence followed that, before she took another breath, then said, "I'm sorry that I just walked away when we were talking, I was just confused, and it was so much information I just-"_

" _-I get it," Oliver said, cutting off her endless rant._

" _Tell me about her."_

" _What?" Oliver asked, surprised._

" _Tell me about my niece."_

" _Okay, um well, she is tiny, but her personality is enormous. She is very smart, of course she gets that from her mother, I mean she started saying 'dada' at like, six months. She can speak two languages at a much better level than other kids her age, and don't even get me started on her math skills. She is the spitting image of Sara, and boy does she use it to her advantage. She gets away with everything possible just by looking up with her big innocent eyes."_

 _Laurel was silent, and Oliver let her have as much time as she needed. "Can you…can you send me a picture of her?"_

 _Oliver nodded, but then remembered he was on the phone, so he said "Yeah," before he tapped his screen a few times. "Done."_

" _I got it I-oh my gosh. She looks just like Sara did at that age." Oliver could hear her voice crack as she said Sara's name. "This is just, it's crazy Ollie. I don't know what to feel. I mean, I want my sister back, but I know that is never going to happen, and I should just accept that I have this amazing little niece that is a part of her, but I still can't accept that she is gone."_

" _I know. I haven't been able to accept it for the three years she's been gone. Every day after she died, I would wake up with Mei in my arms, and I would look around for Sara, but then I had to remind myself that she was gone. Eventually I woke up without any hope of seeing her again, as I had subconiously accepted that that was my life now, but I still miss her every day. The only thing that keeps me going is Mei."_

 _They both stayed on the line listening to the other one cry, until there were no tears left. Then, Laurel finally gathered the courage to ask what she was going to ask. "Can I meet her?"_

" _Of course. Whenever you'd like."_

" _Are you free tomorrow?"_

 _Oliver thought it over for a moment. "Yeah, we are totally free."_

" _Great…see you then."_

" _Yeah. Bye, Ollie."_

" _Goodby,e Laurel."_

 _Oliver hung up the phone, let himself stuff a cookie into his mouth, then walked back into his room and laid down bedside his daughter. He was starting to believe that things were going to be at least a little easier than expected. Sure, they both had a long road ahead, but they both have family that would do anything for them, and Oliver hoped it was going to last._

 _Even with the mission._

 **FOUR YEARS AGO…**

 _They laid her next to Oliver's father. Her grave was made of rocks and her headstone was part of a log, just Like Robert's. Sara watched as we buried her. She held Mei as tight as she could as she used the t-shirt she was wrapped in to dry her constantly flowing tears._

" _Shado always told me that I wouldn't die here. Looking back, I realized that she never once said that about herself," Oliver said as he stared down at the grave with grief stricken eyes. "I just hope she is with her father now."_

 _Slade closed his eyes as he stood and walked over to Oliver. He looked up at him wit his swollen red eyes and held out Shado's green hood for him. "Here, kid."_

 _Oliver couldn't even look at it. "She'd want you to have that."_

 _Slade shook his head. "You're the one she cared for," he said._

 _Oliver gulped. He knew that they had developed a deep relationship over the past year, but he hadn't realized how much she really loved him until she stood in front of that gun and told the man to shoot her to save Sara. He didn't deserve to be the one she cared for, it should have been Slade. Oliver took a deep breath, before taking the hood out of Slade's hands and watching him walk away._

" _Slade wait," he said as he started to go after him, but was almost immediately stopped by Sara grabbing his arm._

" _Hey Ollie, just give him space."_

" _We can't keep lying to him Sara. I need to tell him how Shado really died."_

" _Ivo killed Shado. He pulled the trigger, and she gave her life, so that we could be together as a family. Listen, Slade has been infected wit the Mirukuru. I read all the journals about the studies. The ones who died, they were the lucky ones. The ones who survived were deformed, if not in their bones, then in their minds. They were different people. If you tell Slade that Sara died because it was between my life and hers, he may not take like it he would have before the mirukuru. He might try to kill me, or worse, our daughter. Please, you are a father now Ollie. It's time to start thinking for her." Sara transferred Mei from her arms to his, making sure that Oliver knew where their priorities lay. He nodded softly, letting her know he wouldn't tell._

 **PRESENT DAY…**

Diggle parked out front of the apartment building, and Oliver unbuckled Mei before he led her into the building. They walked up the stairs all the way to the fourth floor, but just as Oliver held up his hand to knock, he started to get nervous. What if she changed her mind? What if she stared yelling at him right in front of Mei? He didn't want to subject her to that, she'd already been through so much in her young life of four years, he didn't want her to have to go through any more stuff so soon. He didn't have much longer to consider it, though, because Mei took charge and rapidly pounded her tiny fist against the door. Oliver's eyes widened as he grabbed for her hand, but before he could stop her, Laurel opened the door.

Mei smiled up at her. "Hi," she said with a wave.

Laurel's expression went from welcoming to shock as she looked down at the little girl she had heard so much about in the last few days. The little girl who was the product of her sister and her ex-boyfriend. She squatted down to her height and said, "Hi."

She waved at her. "Hi, I'm Mei."

"Hi Mei. I'm Laurel."

Mei's eyes widened with delight. "That's my name too, but daddy just calls me Mei cause of he had a friend that died an-"

Oliver shoved his hand over her mouth. Laurel looked at him questionably, but decided not to push.

"Well, come on in. I didn't know if you'd eaten or not, so I made some cinnamon buns." She pulled out two plates, one plastic and one that was much fancier, and placed two cinnamon buns on them.

Mei took her plate and started pulling large chucks off and shoving them in her mouth. Oliver's cheeks turned red with embarrassment as he nudged her with his elbow. "Smaller bites, and say thank you," he whispered.

"Thank you," she said while her mouth was full, only furthering Oliver's embarrassment.

"She umm, isn't used to normal table manners," Oliver explained to Laurel.

She shook her head with a smile and said, "That's okay. I don't think many children her age can resist stuffing their face in a Cinnabon." She grabbed a plate for herself then sat at the table next to Mei and across from Oliver. After a few moments of semi-awkward silence, Laurel spoke up again "So, what kind of stuff do you like, Mei?"

She thought it over for a second, before licking her fingers and saying, "I like animals. Birds are my favorite, and dogs."

Laurel's eyes glistened with tears at what she said. "Bird's huh?"

Mei looked confused as to why she was crying at such a simple answer. Laurel excused herself from the table before quickly running into the next room. She returned a few moments later with a picture frame, which she placed in front of Mei.

She pointed to the young girl who was not any older than seven, sitting on a porch while holding a small canary.

"That's your mommy when she was just a little older than you are. She loved birds too. That was her pet that our dad had given her."

Oliver's heart stopped when he looked at the picture of a young Sara. A girl who had yet be riddled with pain and had everything about her lovable personality ripped to shreds before being killed and taken away from her daughter and him. He hadn't looked at her picture since he'd returned, so he hadn't seen her face since the day she died. His heart threatened to break into a million pieces, but he couldn't take his eyes off the picture. He didn't realize he'd been crying until he felt Mei's tiny hand brush against his cheek to whisk away the tears.

"It's okay, Daddy. Don't be upset. Mommy doesn't want you to be sad," Mei told him with her gentle voice.

Oliver placed his hand on Mei's head and combed his fingers through her hair. "I know, you're right." The silence was filled by Laurel clearing her throat and regaining their attention.

"Well, I was thinking that if you two didn't have any plans for this afternoon, we could go to the park," Laurel suggested.

"I would love to do that, but I have something I need to get done." When he noticed the disappointed frowns on both of the girls' faces, he said, "Why don't you two go to the park without me, and maybe I can meet up with you later."

Mei bounced excitedly as she gave Laurel a high-five making Oliver glad knowing things were going well on both ends.

Once they finished their breakfast, Oliver gave Mei a long goodbye and then waved to Laurel, before heading out. He had Diggle drive him back to his house, the bag he'd packed that morning laying at his feet so that Diggle wouldn't notice it. Oliver got Diggle talking again long enough to distract him, before opening the door and hopping out of the car with his bag in hand.

Walking down the streets of the Glades was a weird experience. He knew that these people were probably looking at him with distain, and honestly, he didn't blame them. Knowing all the things that his father helped do to this city made him sick, and that's why he was here to fix it.

He walked up to the closed gate, threw his bag over, then ran up the pile of wooden slates, pulling himself to the top of the fence and flipping over. Once his bag was secure in his hands again, he walked into the building. He was looking around at the paper covered floors and equipment that hadn't been used in years, when he stepped something. Upon future investigation, Oliver noticed it that it was the Queen Consolidated financial report with Roberts face plastered on the cover. He squatted down and picked up the pamphlet, his eyes meeting those of his late father's, reminding him of what he came back for.


	11. Chapter 10

_Hope this is a good beginning to your week. Happy Monday! Help my week start of good with some awesome reviews! Thank you for sticking with me even though this took forever to update. 3 ya'll – Scruffy Palace_

" _Slade, are you okay?"_

 _Oliver noticed that Slade had walked away from him and Sara, so he passed baby Laurel back to her and followed the older man through the woods. Suddenly, Slade stopped in his tracks. "Where are you going," Oliver asked._

 _Slade turned to him. "To the plane, to get geared up."_

" _For what?" Oliver asked obliviously._

" _Ivo is still out there," Slade said as anger built inside him, "I'm gonna find him and when I do, I'm going to cut pieces off of him."_

" _You can't," Sara said as she walked up behind them, a sleeping Laurel laying in her arms. "Ivo has a ship full of men, of killers. And I don't care what you did before, you can't take them all out. Your only play here is to find safe ground and wait him out."_

 _He walked up to her in a threatening manner. "Well, of course you would say that. You were working for Ivo." He started to raise his voice. "You're probably still working for him."_

 _Oliver stepped in between them and pulled Slade back, "HEY, HEY! She's not."_

" _Get out of my way, kid."_

" _You just need to take it easy." Oliver tried to push him gently back away from Sara and their day-old daughter, but Slade took him by the throat and started to choke him with one hand._

" _I said," he said as he lifted Oliver higher, "get out of my way."_

 **PRESENT DAY…**

Mei skipped down the sidewalk next to Laurel as she licked the chocolate ice cream Laurel had just purchased her. Laurel was still trying to get over the shock of how similar Mei was to Sara when she was that age. Once they finally reached the park bench that sat near the playground area, they sat down and watched the other children that were running around the swings. Laurel was lost for words as she tried to think of something to say to the child, but luckily, Mei spoke up first.

"What was my mommy like?" she asked as she casually licked her ice cream.

Laurel wasn't sure what to say. She still had conflicting feelings about both of the girl's parents, but she also didn't want to say anything negative about a four-year old's mom. "She was… smart, and not book smart, more like she always knew what to do when others didn't. She was also compassionate. She looked out for me, even when I didn't want her to sometimes." Laurel could see Mei's eyes fill with wonder and cheerfulness. "She also was really good at designing clothing. She wanted to be a fashion designer when she was in middle school. She mostly did dresses. A lot like the one you're wearing." She noticed the way Mei scrunched up her face as she looked down at her dress, kicking her feet underneath the bench. "What's wrong?"

"My dress," she said with a grunt.

"You don't like dresses?" she asked.

Mei shrugged. "No, I like dresses, just not puffy, bright pink ones. glupoye plat'ye," she whispered under her breath.

"What?" Laurel questioned.

Mei's eyes widened as she remembered she wasn't supposed speak Russian around anyone but her father. "Nothing," she said quickly before shoving the ice cream in her face and smiling innocently.

Laurel decided not to get into it, so instead she asked, "What kind of dresses do you like?"

Mei smiled as she breathed a sigh of relief. "I like sundresses. My daddy said that when he got married to my mommy, I was wearing a his t-shirt that Mommy turned into a dress."

Laurel dropped her ice-cream.

"Wait, what?"

 _ **FOUR YEARS AGO…**_

 _Sara didn't want to set Mei on the ground, but she had to in order to save Oliver from being murdered from Slade. She gently sat her down far away from the fight, then picked up a log and hit Slade in the back of the head with it, making him stumble and drop Oliver. Slade stood there for a moment staring at Oliver, then it seemed as though he realized what he had done, he looked at his fist, then down at the infant still lying on the ground._

" _I'm sorry," he apologized, then fell to his knees._

 _Once Sara made sure he was calm enough not to attack Oliver again she said, "You're not well, Slade."_

" _Hey, it's the Miracuru," Oliver told Slade who was sitting against a tree, "It's messing with your head."_

 _They sat in silence for a few minutes while Oliver rubbed his neck and Sara shushed a tearful Mei, who didn't take too kindly to being placed on the ground. When she noticed the sun making its way behind one of the mountains, she said, "It's getting late, we need to make camp."_

 _Slade just stayed sitting against the tree while rubbing his hand, trying to remember why he attacked Oliver. Oliver was about to walk over and talk to Slade, but he stopped himself, and instead turned and took Mei from Sara's arms._

 **PRESENT DAY…**

Once Oliver was done spending the entire day trying to make a suitable place to run his 'business' out of, he realized it was getting late, and decided to go pick up Mei from Laurel's, but not before taking one quick pit stop. When Oliver got home the first day, he realized he was missing a few things he had come back with from the Island. His mother told him she didn't have them, so he figured the doctors or EMTs might have taken them without him noticing.

He walked into the hospital and asked the lady at the front desk, and luckily for him they had a lost and found where he found what he had lost. He thanked the lady then climbed back into his car, where he emptied the bag on the seat next to him.

He reached down, and through the small pile of miscellaneous stuff such as his stone arrow head or his picture of Laurel, he found the most important thing he owned. He picked up the thin leather string that he had worn everyday for the last few years, ever since Sara had passed, and looked down at the handmade rings that hung from it, that they'd exchanged back when Mei was still a baby.

Oliver had made her engagement ring and their wedding bands and all three sat on the thin string that he had purchased in Hong Kong. He kissed the wedding band he knew was Sara's, due to the thinness and inscription that read, "Till my last day…," while his read, "…Till my last breath." He looked up at the sky and even though he wouldn't consider himself to be very Christian, he spoke to her. "She's okay Sara. We finally got home, and I know I told you I didn't want to return home at first because I feared all the corruption, but I can protect her now. I promise. The only thing that would complete our lives now is you. I love you, Sar."


	12. Chapter 11

Hi guys, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update, but I try to keep up with all my Arrow fanfictions. I am literally writing this while watching Wonder Woman, lol. I hope you enjoy how this story is going. I love to read your reviews! They make me want to update more. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Have a great week - Scruffy Palace!

 _Neither one of them wanted to, but once Sara started to stumble and almost dropped Laurel,_ _they both agreed that sleep was a necessary evil. Oliver leaned against a rock and let an_ _already asleep Mei lay on his stomach while Sara rested her head on Oliver's chest. She thought it would_ _take her a while to fall asleep because of her nerves, but once her head hit the comfort of_ _his shirtless chest, she immediately passed out._

 _Oliver spent the time while both his girls were sleeping trying to wrap his head around the past_ _forty-eight hours. Two days ago he was worried he would never get out of the prison he'd been_ _locked in, and thought he wouldn't get to meet his child. Now his child is born and laying in his_ _arms, but he was more terrified. The mere thought of being a father was still so surreal. The_ _thought of being a father never once crossed his mind. Well, there was that one time in college_ _and of course Laurel had brought up their future once or twice, but other than that he never_ _considered one day having a child. Now he does and it's definitely not how he pictured it;_ _having his one day old daughter asleep on his chest while his ex-girlfriend's younger sister_ _slash mother of his child sleeping curled against him. They had already had a couple of diaper_ _changes which were challenging because there weren't any diapers, so they had to be creative_ _with leaves and washing his shirt in the ocean._

 _The weirdest thing for Oliver though, was the way he felt about Sara. A year ago, she was just_ _Laurel's younger sister who he always thought was cute, but he never thought his feelings_ _would be anything more than that. When Laurel started asking about moving in together and he_ _freaked and left on the boat with Sara, he didn't think of her as anything more than a hook-up to_ _take his mind off things. Now though, now he was feeling something much different than he'd_ _ever felt for her. Much different than he'd ever felt for any girl, including Laurel. This young_ _woman laying on his chest, the mother of his child, gave birth to their daughter on an island_ _with no pain medication, and was still being strong when all Oliver wanted to do was drown_ _himself in the ocean to rid himself of the tension that was building in his head; the pain that was_ _driving him to the brink of insanity. Somehow though, the girl he always viewed as small and_ _weak, was much stronger than he was. Suddenly, a weak voice came from the walkie-talkie._

 _"Sara?" Ivo spoke commandingly. "Sara, I know you're listening. Answer me." Sara shot up from_ _where she was laying, and her eyes darted around till she noticed where the sound was coming_ _from. "This is very simple, Sara. I know you and your friends have the Mirukuru. You know I will_ _lay waste to this entire island to get it." Sara shuddered as she grabbed for the walkie-talkie, but_ _Oliver took it before she got her hands on it._

 _"Get Slade," he whispered. She nodded, before running off to find him._

 _"But it doesn't have to be this way," Ivo said, continuing to speak through the transceiver, each_ _word sounding more tense. "All I want is the serum. In exchange I'll promise you and your friends_ _safe passage off the island. Within ten days, you and your new friends could be_ _making port in Shanghai." Oliver stilled. He knew he couldn't trust Ivo, but the thought of getting_ _Sara and baby Laurel off the island before she was two weeks old sounded like too good an_ _opportunity to pass up. "The alternative is I send my men into the jungle to take the serum from_ _you. They'll be under orders not to kill any of you. Instead you'll remain alive enough for me to_ _indulge my… scientific curiosity."_

 _Sara stood still when she heard that. They both knew what would happen to their daughter if_ _they were to get caught. Sure, maybe Oliver and her would survive, but their daughter would die_ _and they couldn't let that happen. She ran around where they had been standing, looking for_ _Slade, but he was nowhere to be found. Then she noticed something else was missing as well._

 _"OLIVER," she shouted, "He's gone."_

 _"What?" Oliver whispered, making sure not to wake their daughter who had only gently stirred at_ _Sara's scream._

 _"He's missing and so it the Mirakuru."_

 **Present Day…**

After a lot of destruction, Oliver finally had enough room to start what he came there to do. He set his wooden case on the floor, swept the dust off the top, then unlocked and opened the wooden trunk that hadn't left his sight since he got off the island. He lifted the quiver full of arrows and placed it over his shoulder, before gently picking up his bow and the container of tennis balls he had purchased on Amazon, then began target practice. Unsurprisingly, he hit all six tennis balls with the six arrows he had brought, then stared at his success before starting again.

Two hours later his phone beeped, telling him it was time to pick up Mei from Laurel's house, so he packed his stuff back into his trunk, but he had one more thing to do before he left. He walked over to the computer he had sent up and typed in the name 'Adam Hunt'. A video popped up about the multiple acts of fraud that Adam hunt was being sued over. Laurel had taken to the task of getting the man arrested, but her evidence wasn't sound enough for a sentencing. Especially not when he had so many men and women on the inside who "owed him favors" or worse, were being blackmailed. Luckily for Laurel, Adam Hunt was under his surveillance, too.

Adam Hunt was on the list.

 ** _4 Years Ago…_**

 _Oliver and Sara had been walking for hours, only taking breaks to feed or "change" Laurel. They_ _were worried when the infant spent the first twenty-four hours in mostly silence, but that had_ _drastically changed since they took off. She didn't seem to want screaming, which scared her_ _parents because if she gave away their location, they were dead. Sara had taken the top shirt_ _she was wearing and turned it into a sling for her to lay in, but since she had been crying Sara_ _had taken to holding her against her chest to comfort her and also muffle her cries._ _When they finally reached the airplane they used to live in, Sara had to sit or she would_ _have passed out, while Oliver looked around._

 _"Slade?" he yelled. "Slade!" Once his eyes scanned every inch of the room, he sighed and said,_ _"I thought he might come here."_

 _She leaned her head against the wall of the plane, and with closed eyes said, "He has the_ _Mirakuru in his bloodstream. He's not thinking clearly."_

 _Oliver walked over to her and sat beside her, taking Laurel from the young woman to give her_ _arms a much needed rest. Within a few minutes of shushing and gentle hums from her father,_ _Laurel had fallen asleep._

 _Sara leaned her head against Oliver's shoulder. "Now what?"_

 _He brushed the top of Laurel's head. "I don't know, Sara." Suddenly, a beeping sound was heard_ _in the corner. Oliver jumped up and ran over to it, then sighed in relief when he noticed what it_ _was. "Oh, the sensor grid is still active. So, at least we're gonna know if Ivo and his men come_ _back to the island."_

 _"So what? We just sit here and wait?" Sara asked incredulously._

 _Oliver looked at her with disbelief. "Well, what else do you think we should do? We have an_ _infant, so one of us would have to stay back with her and that person would have obviously_ _have to be you."_

 _Sara looked offended. "Why? Cause I'm a girl? Cause I'm not as strong or as fast as you are?_ _I'll have you know, Ivo taught me a lot of fighting techniques and-"_

 _Oliver held his hand up. "No, if something happened to you, I couldn't exactly run to a Walmart_

 _for food for our daughter. She needs you more than she needs me."_

 _"Oh," Sara said, "Yeah." It was depressing if you really thought about it. The fact that if Sara_ _were to die so would their daughter. That if he lost the only person he had to lean on right now,_ _he would also lose the child who had not been alive a week. "Then Ollie, maybe...maybe we_ _should consider Ivo's offer."_

 _Oliver's couldn't believe his ears. "What? You trust him? After what he did to Shado?"_

 _"We have to think about Mei. We can't provide for her on this island. She needs diapers,_ _clothing, a place to sleep that's not our arms. What if she gets sick? We don't have any_ _medication. She could die, because we were to scared that he may trick us."_

 _"Are you crazy? He will kill us the first chance he gets. You're the one who said he was going to_ _do experiments on our_ daughter."

 _"No, you don't understand. Ivo was scared. He's tired. He's been looking for this cure for much_ _longer than I've know him. If we do what he says, we can get off this island and start a good life_ _for Mei. You don't get it. I carried her inside of me for nine months, and I have spent every day_ _in constant fear that I would lose her, and now that I've met her, I am even more terrified. I can't_ _live if he hurts her."_

 _Oliver grew furious while she spoke. "Don't you dare," he whispered defensively, "Don't you_ _dare say I don't understand, just because I haven't know about her as long. I am sorry that you_ _had to live through that alone, but now you have me. You both do, and I am going to make the_ _best decision for us that keeps us all alive, because we are family now. You, me, and Mei are a_ _family, so we are going to make decisions together, okay?"_

 _Sara sat quietly for a minute as she looked at Oliver and the way he was gently rocking their_ _daughter as he spoke. The way he kept her face close to his and he seemed to be listening to_ _her every breath. The way he would lower his voice every time he saw her stir, as to make sure_ _she didn't wake up._

 _"Okay."_

 **Present Day…**

After Oliver stopped by and gave Adam a quick...warning, he realized he was pretty close to Laurel's apartment. So, he decided to walk there instead of calling Diggle and having to make up an excuse for ditching him, so that he could get a ride. Once he reached her door, he lifted his hand to knock, but was surprised by Laurel opening the door before he had the chance.

"Oliver, good to see you," she told him before dragging him into the apartment.

"Yeah, you too. I hope that Mei wasn't too much trouble. She can be pretty rough if she wants to be."

Laurel pushed him down on the couch, then walked over to her counter and grabbed two cups of piping hot coffee and sat one down in front of Oliver before sitting next to him with the other.

"Uh, thanks," Oliver said before taking a sip of the coffee awkwardly. "So, where's Mei?"

"Oh, she went to sleep in my room a little after we got back. The park seemed to tire her out."

Oliver nodded before diverting his eyes to a random part of the room. Their relationship was complicated at best, and at worst...well, they weren't back to their friendly chats yet, so this was quite uncomfortable for him. He figured he deserved the unpleasantness.

"Well, while we wait for her to wake up, I have something I wanted to ask you. Mei said something earlier while we're talking at the park. I was talking about dresses and how Sara used to love to make dresses and she brought up something about how when she was a baby Sara made her a dress out of one of your shirts," Oliver thought back and smiled at the memory. One of the few good memories he had of the last five years. "Yeah, she said Sara made it into a dress, because you and her got married." Oliver's smile fell. "And I didn't know if she was telling a story or not, because she's four and all, but based on your expression when I told you, I'm guessing she wasn't."

Oliver looked down at his hands as he rubbed at his thumb. He wasn't ashamed of his marriage. He would never be ashamed of promising his life to the woman he loved, but it was much more complicated than that. Their marriage wasn't legal, and even though that didn't matter to Oliver, it did to others. Also, since Sara was Laurel's sister, it would be weird to explain to her how they fell in love.

"We were alone on the island, before Mei came. As time went on, we just kinda...fell for each other. I loved her, and we decided that even though it wasn't legal, we would have our own little ceremony and get married." He pulled the necklace out from under his shirt and showed her the rings like he was a showing a piece of his soul. Her eyes widened when she saw them, as though confirming her suspicions. "I know this must be weird for you and I know I've already caused you so much pain and I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, but Sara was the love of my life and it took us getting stranded on an island for me to realize it."


	13. Chapter 12

Oliver wasn't really in the mood for a party. He just wanted to stay home with Mei, tuck her in, and then follow up with Mister Hunt. But of course he had to keep up his appearance. He didn't want anyone believing he had changed too much since becoming a father. He didn't even want to talk about Sara with anyone who wasn't Mei. Laurel caught him off guard, so he had to think quickly. He didn't exactly lie, but he might have fluffed certain truths.

As he walked to the door, he noticed the sudden weight that was placed on his leg. He smiled and looked down to see Mei, who was attached to him with all her strength.

"Please don't leave again, Daddy," she pleaded with a quiver of her bottom lip.

He lifted her into the air and placed her on his side. "I'll only be gone a couple of hours."

She looked around the foyer, as if searching for listening ears. "I don't like being with so many strange people all the time. They scare me."

Oliver wrinkled his brow. "What do you mean? Have they hurt you?" he asked concerned. He thought she would be safe here with his family and friends, but his daughter had been through too much and if she told him they had hurt her in any way, he would load her on his motorcycle and never return.

She shook her head. "Not yet, but when you leave me, I get boo boos." She raised her shirt to show him the small, two inch scar she had on her left side, like he had forgotten. Oliver was ashamed of himself. He felt as though he had been punched in the gut. How could he have not talked to her before leaving her alone all day. He never thought that his mother or sister would hurt Mei, but of course she was going to be afraid of them. She was right, whenever he wasn't by her side, people hurt her. They used her to get to him. They didn't care they were hurting a tiny child who was going to be traumatized for the rest of her life.

"I am so sorry, baby girl. I am a complete dummy."

The right side of her mouth raised slightly. "You're not a dummy," she mumbled while fiddling with his tie.

"I sure feel like a dummy," he sighed, then thought for a moment. "Here, I'm going to call Tommy and tell him I can't come tonight and then I am taking you to a place that I loved to go to when I was young." Her frown turned upside down and laid her head against his chest. He kissed the top of her head, then placed her on the ground. "Okay, I'm going to call Tommy. Go get your shoes on."

"Yes, sir," she said giddily then quickly ran to their room.

Oliver pulled out his phone and dialed Tommy's number.

"Hey buddy," Tommy shouted over the loud noises behind him. "Where are you? The party has already begun."

"Tommy, I hate to do this to you man, but I can't come tonight."

"Ha! Very Funny Oliver." After a few seconds of silence though, Tommy's voice turned serious. "What are you talking about? Why not. Everyone came here because they wanted to see the walking dead, Oliver Queen. What could be more important than this?"

"I haven't been thinking about Mei. She needs me to be with her tonight. I think I pushed all this on her too quickly."

It's almost like he could hear Tommy nod over the phone. "I get it man. You're a dad now. I will handle the party and we can do this another time."

"Thanks, I'll talk to you soon." He hung up the phone just as Mei returned. She ran up to him and jumped back in his arms.

"Away we go," she said and pointed at the door. He walked to the door, and went over to his motorcycle, but was stopped on the way.

"Sir, are you sure it's wise to drive a child around on that thing?" Oliver rolled his eyes, before turning to look back at Diggle, who had a sly grin on his face.

"Mr. Diggle, it's good to see you again," Oliver told him.

"Why don't we just skip the formalities, sir." Oliver and Mei climbed into the car the Diggle followed after. Oliver gave the driver a slip of paper.

"Please take us to this address."

 _FOUR YEARS AGO…_

" _You know what I've missed the entire time we've been on this island. A bed. When I was having my morning sickness, when I was huge and had back aches, when I had my first braxton-hicks contractions and I was worried about what would happen during my labor on the cold floor of a cargo ship. Everytime I would come back to wanting a bed and not just any bed, either. My parent's bed. They had the comfiest, warmest, most amazing bed I've ever slept in. When I was little I would crawl into bed with them and all my worries would go away." She rocked Laurel back and forth while laying in her hammock that Oliver happily gave her to sleep in, while he took the floor._

" _I don't even know if I remember what a bed feels like anymore."_

" _And you probably never will. And neither will I. Or our daughter."_

 _Oliver sat up from where he was laying. "Sara… I promised you I was going to get you off this island. I promised you I would get both of you off this island. You have to trust me."_

 _She laughed. "Ollie, the last time I trusted you was on the Gambit and if you don't remember, we made a baby that night."_

 _Oliver looked down at the ground remorsefully. He then placed his hand on Sara's knee and looked her the eyes. "I haven't gotten a chance to say this. I'm sorry. I know this is all my fault. None of this would have happened if I hadn't invited you on my father's boat with me. We wouldn't have to spend every moment worrying about our daughter, We-"_

" _-We wouldn't have a daughter to worry about. If you hadn't had invited me on to your father's boat, we wouldn't have her." They both looked at Mei just as she let out a small yawn. "I don't know if I would be here without her. She may be the cause of my worry, but she is also the cause of my strength. Besides, I am the one who said yes to coming with you that day. I didn't just do it because of your prince charming good looks or your cocky attitude. I...I wanted to make Laurel feel the pain that I felt." Oliver raised his eyebrow at that. "Once upon a time I had this big crush on you. So, one night I snuck out and went to one of your friend Tommy's parties. Laurel ended up telling our dad and that's why the party got broken up by the cops. I got punished for a month and the next thing I knew, you were dating her."_

 _Oliver sat there in shock for a moment. "I never knew that."_

 _Sara shrugged lightly. "People aren't always as they seem." They sat there in silence, before Oliver reached up to rub his tired eyes. "Here, get some sleep. I'll take the first shift and wake you in a bit."_

PRESENT DAY

"Daddy, are we there yet?" Mei asked after they had been riding in the car for almost a half and hour.

"Almost," he told her, then gave her a wink. Diggle just sat off to the side and gave not so subtle questioning glances at the father.

A few minutes later, the driver pulled into an empty parking lot. "Sir," he said, "I believe this place is closed."

Oliver patted him on the shoulder. "That's alright, we're gonna hang around a bit. Take a little drive then pick us up later." He got out of the car, went around to the passenger seat and opened it for Mei, who had already mastered the art of getting herself in and out of her carseat.

He held out his hand and they made their way over to the tall brick building. Diggle ran ahead and went to open the door for Oliver, when he realized it was locked.

"The driver was right, this place is locked. Would you like for me to give him a call to pick us up?"

"No, I can get us in." Oliver said as he walked towards the door, but was stopped by Diggle placing his hand against his chest.

"I am not helping you commit a felony."

"Why would I have us break in, when I," Oliver sticks his hand in his pocket and pulls out a key, "have this?"

Diggle's body clenched as he stuttered loudly, "Your parents own a pool?"

"No, Thea and I own a pool. We got it for Christmas from our parents. They felt it was unfair we didn't have a place to bring our friends to."

"Besides your mansion."

"Yeah, I guess." Oliver said, trying to act as shallow as possible. He opened the door and said to Mei, "After you."

Mei ran into the room, but stopped and frowned when she got close to the water.

"What's wrong, Mei? Did you not want to go swimming?"

"No, I do, but I don't have a swim suit."

Oliver sighed in relief. "Well that's the best thing about owning your own pool, you can swim in your clothes."

Mei jumped up and down. "REALLY?" she ripped off her shirt and dived into the water with just her shorts on. She had known how to swim for quite a while, so Oliver let her go crazy. He took off his own shirt and sat on the edge of the pool, getting the dark expensive dress pants he was wearing wet.

"Hey Diggle, wanna swim?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm good sir, I'm good." he said, his voice shaky.

"You sure?"

"Ye-yeah."

Oliver shrugged. "Suit yourself." He jumped in the water and joined Mei, but Diggle wasn't staring at that. He was staring at the scars that went up and down Mei's back, stomach, and legs, and he sat there wonder what the heck really happened on that island. He didn't know how, but he was going to figure it out. Oliver Queen was hiding something and Diggle could tell it was bigger than having a kid.


	14. Chapter 13

After spending hours at the pool, Oliver decided it was time to go home. Mei fell asleep in the car, so Oliver carried her into the house, changed her into one of his shirts and tucked her into bed. He brushed his hand through her long, bleach blond hair as she slept curled up in a tight ball. Oliver didn't want to leave just in case she woke up and asked for him, but he knew he had to. He had made a promise.

Oliver checked the hallway to make sure everyone had gone to bed before slipping out of his bedroom and out the door. He didn't make it two steps outside though, before he heard from behind, "Something I can help you with sir?"

Oliver clenched his fists before he turned and flashed a fake smile at Diggle. "I thought you had gone home."

"Yeah, but I figured I'd wait around a little longer, make sure you didn't go anywhere without me." Diggle walked up to Oliver and stood face to face with him. He then crossed his arms to try and intimidate Oliver. It didn't work.

"Well, I was just going to stop by my friend Tommy's for a bit since I skipped out on the party. I'll probably be there for a while, so you should just go home."

Diggle let out a quick chuckle, before saying, "Don't mistake me for a fool, Oliver. I know that something's going on. I know that you aren't the person you pretend to be. I saw the scars that covered your daughter's back and arms. You want to look me in the eye and tell me all of those were accidents?" Oliver dropped his faccade and shoved Diggle, making the other man stumble backwards.

"Don't you dare accuse me of hurting the thing I love most in this world. We have been through nothing but hell together. She lost her mother and so far, has grown up on an island. My daughter only has one person in this world, me, and I'll be damned if I let you make accusations about things you know _nothing_ about."

Diggle's hard appearance seemed to soften a bit as he stood there silently, watching Oliver jump on his motorcycle and drive away.

 _ **Four Years Ago…**_

 _Oliver and Sara had been walking for days and they still hadn't found Slade. Oliver made sure Sara got enough sleep so that she could rebuild her strength after giving birth. Laurel had reached a week old and was now eating every couple of hours instead of randomly whenever she woke up screaming. She had already soiled Oliver's shirt, not that he minded, because he would rather he be cold than his daughter be cold. He just knew that being wrapped in a wet shirt that she repeatedly pees and poops in is definitely not pleasant._

 _Eventually, after much searching, they came across the cave that Yao Fe had taken him to when he first came to the island. Oliver transferred Laurel to Sara, then looked around the cave and sighed in defeat. "He's not here."_

" _Well where else could he be? We already checked the plane." Oliver looked around the cave for any sign he had been there, then he came across some writings on the wall._

" _Do you remember seeing these before?" He asked as he examined the drawings._

" _I didn't really look around."_

" _These look familiar," Oliver said as he tried to think back to the last time he'd seen them._

" _It could be Lian Yu."_

" _No, I mean the calculations, I've seen them before," he said, getting closer, but not quite putting his finger on it just yet._

" _Maybe you saw them the last time you were in the cave?"_

" _No I- Fyer's Launcher," Oliver recalled._

" _What?" Sara asked as she turned her head sharply to Oliver._

" _There were some soldiers on the island last year and they had a missile launcher. I saw one of these on display, they're firing calculations." Oliver thought it over for a few minutes before the realization dawned on him. "He's gonna blow it up."_

" _Blow what up?" Asked Sara as she cradled Laurel closer to her chest._

" _The freighter," Oliver answered before turning to run out of the cave._

 **PRESENT DAY…**

Oliver drove to the steel factory, changed into his arrow suit, grabbed his bow, then made his way to Adam Hunt's. He climbed the side of the building, snuck in the back, and was able to shoot down two guys before even being seen. People shot from every direction, but Oliver had spent the last five years training for this moment. Fighting man after man, he finally got to the one he came for.

Adam Hunt.

Hand to hand combat ensued, Oliver was surprised how difficult it was to not immediately nail him to the ground, but he finally got the upper hand and took the opportunity to grab for his bow. He had the perfect shot. He raised his bow and shot the arrow an inch from Adam's face.

He smiled. "You missed."

Oliver raised his eyebrow. "Did I?"

Suddenly a man came from the left and attacked Oliver, but Oliver held his own, even when he was slammed into a glass table. He threw the guy off him then kicked him in the face before wrapping his legs around the guy's neck and throwing him across the room. The man grabbed for his gun that had fallen to the floor. Before Oliver could move he heard a gunshot and felt his side start to burn. He fell to the ground as his eyes grew heavy. All he wanted to do was close them for one second, but he couldn't. He had to get back to Mei, he promised. He dug into his side and grimaced as he pulled the bullet out from his body. He grunted as he tried to stand, but then he heard people rush in and say, "LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE."

Oliver slowly raised his hands, but before the officers could see him, he threw two arrows at their guns, making them unusable before running across the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the grandfather of his daughter shooting at him. With one last breath, he jumped out the window, grabbed on to his zip line, and went far away from the building till he was out of sight.

 _ **FOUR YEARS AGO…**_

 _Oliver told Sara to stay back with Laurel, this was something he needed to do alone. He kept running and looking for any sight of Slade, till finally he came across the missile launcher with Slade on top._

" _SLADE!" he yelled as he ran closer, but not too close to where he didn't have enough space to get a quick exit._

" _Get back kid," Slade warned._

" _I know you're targeting the boat."_

" _I'm going to send that son of a bitch back to the bottom of the ocean," he spat._

" _No, you're going to destroy our only chance off the island."_

" _If Ivo's dead, then so be it."_

 _Oliver couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But what about my daughter? She's only a week old, if she doesn't get off this island soon, she'll die," he said with desperation lacing his words. "I can't let you do this."_

 _Slade turned and pulled his gun on him. "GET BACK OR SO HELP ME I WILL PUT YOU DOWN!"_

 **PRESENT DAY…**

Oliver stood in his bathroom as he gave himself stiches. He couldn't believe it. Only his second time out and he was already shot. If things continued like this, he'd be dead in a month. He knew that he would have to change things if he wanted to continue. He couldn't do it alone.

He needed to call Talia.


	15. Chapter 14

Hey guys, I'm deeply sorry that this was so late bla bla bla, I'll try to do better, yada yada yada and all that jazz. You guys know I'll never get better. Sorry. I hope you enjoy! I wanted to remind you that I have no idea how long things went on the island, so I'm just going to guess.

Oliver checked the clock for what felt like the hundredth time that hour, but it was still only twenty minutes past five. He had agreed to meet Talia at a discreet location that she would disclose to him at 6 o'clock that evening and so Oliver had been waiting patiently since. It was easy, especially after the day he had just had. He brushed his hand against the new bruise he had developed on his arm over the past few hours.

Mei had gotten her hair stuck in the hinge of their bedroom door that morning, so Oliver had to cut her free. That led to a discussion between Oliver and his mother about how she couldn't have her granddaughter running around with that monstrosity. So, Oliver agreed to let Moira take Mei to her hair salon and get her first, as far as she knew, haircut.

Mei was excited about getting out of the house and seeing the sights, but once they walked into the salon, she immediately grew nervous. She clung to her father's leg and wouldn't let go. The closer anyone got to her, the tighter her grip became. Her eyes started to glaze over when her name was called, and she looked up at Oliver with a look that gripped his heart and tore it from his chest.

"Uh, Mom, maybe we could try this another time," He suggested as he rubbed his hand in a circle on Mei's back to calm her down.

"Nonsense, Oliver. Every child is nervous during their first haircut. Both you and Thea cried your eyes out and Thea even kicked the hairdresser in the shin." She leaned down to Mei and gave her a warm smile. "It's okay. They're just going to make your hair a little shorter so that it all looks even and then they're going to make it look pretty and curly. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Mei shook her head, then shoved her face into Oliver's leg. Moira's smile fell, but she stayed adamant. "Come with me, darling." Mei shook her head again as she pulled back closer to Oliver, but eventually gave in and took her hand.

Moria brought her over to the chair and showed her how things would go. Mei seemed to get less nervous over time, so Moira picked her up and put her in the chair closest to the front. Oliver stood by his daughter and repeatedly threw her encouraging smiles, which made her calm through the time the man was washing her hair. Everything went fine until they turned her around and pulled out the scissors to start cutting.

And that's when all hell broke loose.

Mei let out a blood-curdling scream, grabbed the luckily closed scissors out of the poor man's hands, then threw them away from her and accidentally hitting Oliver. She then stood up in the chair and jumped on Oliver, clutching onto him for dear life. She started to cry and wouldn't let up until they were back home. Oliver carried her into their room and rocked her gently until her breathing was back to normal and her eyes started to dry.

"Shh shh, it's all okay. I got you," he whispered to her as he rubbed her back gently.

"They were gonna hurt me," she muttered as her lip quivered, making Oliver's heartbreak.

"No, they weren't. They were going to cut your hair. Remember when I cut your hair?"

She nodded. "But I know you don't hurt me."

Oliver sighed. How could he keep forgetting that most of the human contact she'd had over the last four years have been negative? She didn't trust most people, especially men, because of how long she'd be subjected to torture herself or watching Oliver endure it. He needed to find ways to help her trust others.

FOUR YEARS AGO…

 _Oliver was unsure what he should say. If he slipped up and said the wrong thing, Slade could pull the trigger and he'd be dead._

 _"Slade, there is something you need to know. Shado…she loved you. Not in the way you wanted, but she loved you and she wanted you to make it home. She wants you to see Joe again. She wanted you to hug your son." Oliver knew he was starting to get into Slade's head, so he took a risk and started to stand. "I know you're angry," Slade jumped back and started to shake a bit, "And I know you want revenge, but if you destroy Ivo's frater, Shado will have died for nothing."_

 _Finally, Slade pulled the gun away and dropped it on the ground. His fist clenched in a fury._

 _"What is happening to me?" He asked as he seemed to finally snap out of whatever trance he was under._

 _"I don't know, but I'm not going to let you go through it on your own," Oliver promised._

 _Slade was still shaking as he said, "The man who killed Shado is still out there and whether the freighter's on the bottom of the ocean or not, we are still stuck on this island."_

 _"Not for long," Oliver said, making Slade raise his brow, "because we're gonna steal the freighter."_

PRESENT DAY…

Beep Beep. Oliver almost fell off the bed when he heard the sound coming from his phone. He hadn't realized he drifted to sleep. He gave Mei a soft kiss on the head, before sliding out of bed and checking his phone. The only thing written was an address. Oliver knew it well.

He drove his motorcycle to his father's old factory. When he got in, he didn't notice anyone around but didn't worry since he'd been in this situation multiple times before. He could almost feel her presence, so he said, "Talia."

Soft footsteps were heard behind him, making him turn around to a sword pointed against his throat.

"Hello, Oliver. It's nice to see you again." She took the sword and stashed it back into her scabbard. "Now, what was so crucial that you needed to speak with me so urgently?"

Oliver sighed before lifting his shirt and showing her the bandage that covered the gunshot. She laughed.

"Really, one week and you're already getting showered with bullets. Honestly, Oliver, you should have listened to me when I told you, you weren't ready."

Oliver sighed. "I needed to return to my city. It was my time. I could feel it, but I still need your help. I can't have this happening again. I have to protect my daughter, but I can't do that if I'm dead. So, can you help me or not?"

Talia glanced up, then around the room, before her eyes moved to give Oliver a firm look, her lips pursed. "I can. I promised you once that I would repay you for what you did."

She turned around and started to head out of the steel factory, but not before saying, "You'll receive something from an old friend of mine in a few days. Don't do anything until then."

 _THREE AND A HALF YEARS AGO…_

 _Six months had passed. Over that time, Laurel grew from a tiny infant who could barely keep her eyes open to a six-month-old with the ability to make different sounds and crawl. The first time Oliver and Sara saw her crawl, their hearts dropped to the ground. It wasn't the fact that their daughter was growing up. No, it was the fact that Sara set her down and looked away for just a few seconds, leaving Laurel to almost crawl herself off a cliff._

 _Other than that, Oliver and Sara were glad their daughter was growing. It meant they had to be doing at least one thing right. It also meant that she wasn't crying as much. Don't get them wrong, she could still scream her head off if she wanted to, but now she at least seemed to only cry when she hadn't been fed in a while or was sitting in a crap ton of…well crap._

 _Of course, there was one problem. Every day their daughter gained a new exciting milestone reminded them all the more of the fact that she was growing up on an island and had yet to see anything but this crap infested tiny piece of land. That's why Oliver made it his mission to train. He trained day and night. He shot arrow after arrow, ran miles every day, and did pull-ups until he passed out from exhaustion._

 _The nights were spent cuddling with Laurel and sometimes Sara. They had grown quite close over the last six months, but neither seemed to want to address the connection. Watching Sara with their daughter brought Oliver feelings he'd never felt before. He used to think that the connection to the people he loved would hold him back, but it actually just made himself push further._

 _Over the six months, they formulated a plan to defeat Ivo and his men, then take his freighter and get home. Once they were finally ready, they needed to figure out what to do with the Mirakuru. They all agreed to have it destroyed. Late that night as Oliver and Sara lit the box on fire outside the plane, Sara pulled Oliver out of Slade's ear-shot and whispered, "We need to talk tomorrow."_

 _Oliver shifted Sara, who was lying against his chest, and said, "About what?"_

 _"What we're going to do with Anthony once we take the freighter."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _She glanced at the fire for a moment to try and think of the best way to explain. "Slade wants to kill him."_

 _"I'm not gonna let that happen."_

 _"No, Slade wants to kill him for Shado." Oliver was still confused, so she took a deep breath, before saying, "You don't know him like I do. If he's given the chance, then he's gonna turn this around. He's gonna make Slade think that it's your fault that she's dead. That you chose to save me instead of her."_

 _"That's ridiculous. Shado gave her life so that you and Laurel could live. If Slade knew that he would understand."_

 _"No, you're the one who's not understanding! Slade has the Mirakuru in his system. He's not thinking clearly. If Ivo says that you're the reason Shado's dead, then who knows what he will do." She lowered her again to say, "You can't let him get close to Slade. You have to first."_

 _Oliver finally understood what she was saying, and it made him angry. "Sara, I can't."_

 _"You've killed before."_

 _"That's not what you are talking about. You are talking about executing someone in cold blood."_

 _"If Slade snaps again, we're are dead. That's including our daughter." They both looked down at Laurel as she stayed curled in Oliver's chest. "Are you saying you wouldn't kill for her?"_

 _"Of course, I would."_

 _"Then you have to kill Ivo. It's the only way."_

PRESENT DAY…

Oliver spent the next day with Mei as she was introduced to princesses, courtesy of Aunt Thea. Her favorite was Mulan, which didn't shock Oliver in the least bit. She spent the rest of the day dancing around the house listening to songs and it warmed Oliver's heart to see that she was finally doing okay. It was a step. One that Oliver truly needed.

The next morning someone knocked on the door. Oliver opened the door and was surprised to see a man dressed in black standing there with a large block.

"Oliver Queen?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah. Is that for me?"

"Yes, sir." He handed the box to Oliver and walked away without another word.

Oliver carried the box into his bedroom. On the top read Wayne Enterprises. Oliver knew all about Bruce Wayne, but he had no idea why he would send him something. He sliced the top open and pulled out his suit, he had no idea how Talia got ahold of it without him knowing, but with some changes. Underneath was a letter. Oliver opened it up and read;

Mr. Queen,

An acquaintance of mine told me about your crusade. I think it is admirable what you have chosen to do for your city. I have modified your suit to better defend you. I added Kevlar to the suit with reinforced carbon fiber. I do hope this serves you well.

Best regards,

Alfred Pennyworth

Oliver folded the letter back and put it in his pocket. He didn't know who this Alfred guy was, but it meant one more person who knew his identity and Oliver didn't like it. He just had to trust Talia, though that was a difficult task in itself.


	16. Chapter 15

There were many men on that rooftop, but they weren't trained, not like he was. Oliver fought through the group of gunmen easily and when he got to the last one, he shoved his head near a fan that could've easily sliced it clean off. He tried to scream to get Oliver to stop, but he wasn't letting him get off easy. Oliver had a message.

"Marcus Redman, you have failed this city," he said as he grabbed the man's hair and held his head closer to the spinning blades.

"Please, don't," he begged.

"Cell phone, inside pocket, call your partner. Tell him to give those pensioners back their money."

"Please, don't," he repeated, not giving him the answer that he wanted so he pushed his head future down.

"Do it now," he commanded before he jumped off him and ran off the rooftop into the dark of night.

"Daaaaaadddddddy," Mei screamed in delight as she saw her father walk through the door. Oliver leaned down and picked her up, holding her closely in her arms.

"Hey, baby girl. How was your movie?" Oliver had left Mei with Thea and the two of them had watched another Disney movie. This time she introduced Mei to Toy Story.

"I like this one much better than Cinderella," she said, then put her thumb in her mouth and laid her head on his shoulder.

"I bet," he said with a smile. He was so glad she was getting used to Thea and he was so grateful for all the time she spent watching her. Out of everyone, he trusted her the most. He brushed his hand through Mei's hair, which was now quite shorter thanks to the haircut he gave her that morning. Moira was not pleased, but Oliver would do anything to make his daughter happy, so she now sported an extremely short cut with a faux-hawk look in the front. With the red striped shirt and tan brown pants she wore with it, she could be easily mistaken for a boy. Oliver found it ridiculous his mother would care how he styled his four-year-old's hair and made sure to tell her not to tell Mei about her opinion.

Three and a half years ago…

Slade gathered them inside the plane, and they stood in a circle as he raised his glass.

"This is one of the few precious pieces of cargo to survive the crash. Billy Wintergreen and I were planning on saving it for a rainy day but considering, God willing, this is our last night on the island," he poured a cup for Sara. He offered one to Oliver, but his hands were full of a tired Laurel who let out an adorable yawn before closing her beautiful blue eyes. He held her closer than usual and placed a kiss to her head before saying, "If something happens to me tomorrow-"

"-You can't think like that," Slade intervened, before walking over to work on something on the other end of the plane. Sara waved for him to continue.

"If I don't make it back, please tell Laurel," he sucked in a sharp breath, "tell her I love her and that I wish I could be there to watch her grow up. Tell her I would do all of this again if it meant she got home safely. Tell her I am so glad I got to spend the time I did with her," he said as tears ran down his eyes.

Sara brushed her thumb delicately across his cheek to wipe them away. "She will never have to wonder if her dad loved her." He leaned into her touch and breathed deeply. He opened his eyes and looked into Sara's sky-blue eyes and suddenly he wanted her. He wanted her to know that he loved her as well, and not just as Laurel's mom, but as something else, something more. Sara seemed to get the same feeling as she leaned in slowly until she was only a few inches from his lips. Oliver closed the distance.

The kiss felt like magic. Like fireworks had gone off and blasted around them. It was different than when they made out on the Gambit. That was fast and forced and Oliver didn't really feel anything for Sara, but this kiss was completely different. It was all the love they gathered for each other over the past seven months pressed into one tender moment. Eventually, Sara pulled away for a breath and gave him a small smile.

"Wow," she said, her heart pumping quicker than she would admit.

PRESENT DAY…

Oliver walked into the living room when he heard the news anchor mention the man in the hood. He went in and sat down on the couch with a tired Mei spread across his lap.

"This guy gets more airtime than the Kardashians," Oliver commented as he rubbed up and down Mei's back to calm her enough for a nap.

"Five years on an island and you still know who they are?" Thea asked with a raised brow.

"I've been catching up. It's nice to see how much our culture has improved in a number of ways."

"But the city used to be different," his mother commented, "People used to feel safe."

"Aww, what's the matter mom? Afraid of being next?" Thea asked jokingly.

Walter piped in. "Do you have any questions about today Oliver? It's a simple proof of life declaration. You just read out your brief, prepared statement to the judge and then your death-in-absentia judgment will be voided."

"I'm good. What about Mei though? Does she need to be there for her papers or anything?" Oliver asked.

"No, everything is being taken care of by our lawyer. She just needs to go get a physical and her immunizations," Moria explained.

"Hi guys," Tommy said as he walked into the room and gave a half-asleep Mei a fist bump. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna put Mei down for her nap and then we can go," Oliver said before carrying Mei into their room and laying her down on the bed. As he was tucking her in, he gave her her Gummy. Gummy was a torn t-shirt they found in the plane that Sara stripped and tied together into a misshapen ball.

"She doesn't need any toys yet. When we get back, We'll buy her a truckload of toys," Oliver argued as Sara worked hard on making the ball.

"She's four months old, she can sit up on her own and she needs her own stuffed animal."

Oliver took the almost finished ball from her hand. "THIS ISN'T A STUFF ANIMAL," he yelled before Laurel started whining. "This is a shirt we found on the bottom of a crashed plane."

Sara took it back. "No, you can't fight me on this. Our daughter deserves one thing and if this is all she's gonna get for now, then I'm gonna make it special." She finished triple knotting the last ties and then cut out two circles for the eyes and a line for the mouth. She was about to go over to Laurel when Oliver grabbed her arm.

"It just makes me feel like you're giving up on getting home, every time you do something to make this place homier."

Sara laughed. "Oliver, this place will never be homey, but our daughter is an innocent bystander in all this mess, and she deserves to have the best we can give her until we find another way off this island. She then pulled away and handed the ball to Laurel. She took it in her arms and gave it a soft squeeze. She giggled with delight as she waved it around happily.

"See, she loves it."

Seventeen months later, Laurel gave that ball the name Gummy after Oliver made a comment, she's chewing it like a gummy and Laurel repeated, "Gummy?" and from then on that's what she called it.

Mei opened her eyes just slightly and asked, "Daddy, are you gonna go away again?"

He sighed before getting down on his knees to be at her height and saying, "Yeah, but only for a little bit and Aunty Thea will be here if you need anything. I'll only be gone for a little bit and then we can hang out for the rest of the night, how about that?"

"Okie Dokie," she said before shutting her eyes and quickly falling to sleep.

Oliver laid asleep next to Sara who had Laurel sleeping on her. Sara was wrapped up in Oliver's arms and she was still thinking about how magical the kiss was. She was terrified that he wouldn't make it back tomorrow. She didn't know if she could live without him. He was her rock and he kept her sane.

Suddenly, Oliver jolted awake and out of her arms with a gasp. Sara wasn't shocked by this, as she'd seen him do this time and time again. He quickly shook it off and gave Mei a quick kiss on the head, before looking up at Sara.

"Hey," he whispered as he brushed his hand over her head.

"Hey," she whispered back. "Did you get enough rest for today?" she asked nervously.

He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll be okay. You just need to stay here and wait for me to return."

He got up and opened his trunk, which was filled with his supplies and Shado's hood. He gently lifted it out of the box and put it on. Sara could see the pain in his eyes as he put the hood over his face. She walked over to him and place her free hand on the back of his head.

"Be careful," she told him.

"I will, I promise," he said, but they both knew the chances of him getting out alive was low. He wrapped his large arms around Sara and their daughter and then pulled back and gave Sara a loving, passionate kiss. He then took Mei from Sara's arms and rocked her back and forth gently.

"I love you so much," he said as tears started in well up in his eyes, "And I want you to have the best life possible, even if I can't be around to watch you live it." He then gave her a soft kiss on her head, which was now covered with thin blond hair. After a few more minutes of holding her, he handed her back to Sara.

PRESENT DAY…

Court was quick and it took longer to leave the building with all the press that crowded around Oliver. He just wanted to get home to his daughter and didn't mind leaving his security guard behind to do so. When he got home and saw Mei was still sleeping, he jumped in the shower quickly, before getting out his laptop and looking up his next target. Martin Somers. Oliver bumped into Laurel at the courthouse and noticed she was going up against him, a man who happened to be on his father's list as well. He needed to go out and get more information, but he promised his daughter he would stay home this evening until she went to bed.

Eventually, she woke and smiled widely when she saw her father sitting next to her on the bed.

"Daddy, your home," she said giddily as she jumped on his lap and tackled him with the pillows.

"Of course, I am. I told you I would be. Now what do you want to do?" he asked as he held her high above his chest.

"Wrestle," she screamed as she plopped down on his stomach and started tickling him.


End file.
